Thread
by ThePrincessTigerLily
Summary: Gabriel always figured love was pretty inexplicable... a post-Bloor's AU: multiple pairings...Chapter 13- in which many things are mostly cleared up
1. Chapter 1

Futurefic: AU that takes place a few years after everyone graduates Bloors. I am not going to guarantee any pairings as of yet, because I honestly have no idea who is going to end up with whom. I have ideas, but who knows…

A/N: So this was originally going to be a one-shot for Unusual Attractions…and then it grew… (multichapter)

* * *

_Chapter One_

_In Which Gabriel is Ambushed, Emma Contemplates her Wolfish Roommate, Billy is Wrong Again, Tancred Wins As Usual, Charlie Ignores Several Phone Calls, and There is a Serious Aisle Crisis_

Gabriel Silk loved department stores almost as much as he loved gerbils. Since the time he'd discovered his endowment, the huge stores had become a place of refuge, a place where he could become just another anonymous shopper basking in the glory of un-owned clothing. He reveled in browsing among items that hadn't been felt by human hands, clothing that hadn't been filled with memories, and fabric that wouldn't make him want to pass out when he touched it.

When he was little, trips to the department store usually occurred only once a year, so his mother could buy him school clothes nobody had worn yet. He'd always begged to go more often, but there'd always been reasons to put it off, or simply not enough money. After graduating Bloors, Gabriel had moved to the city, and taken a rather unfulfilling desk job with an antivirus software company, mostly because it provided little human contact. However, the job provided the money to buy an attractive Habitrail for his gerbils, and gave him the opportunity to visit department stores whenever he liked. Which was often.

Today he'd decided to peruse the third floor in hopes of finding a tie for Olivia and Lysander's engagement party. The two had announced their relationship a few months after Olivia had graduated (everyone had pretended to be surprised), and Lysander had proposed a few weeks earlier. Personally, Gabriel thought it was a miracle the two had lasted as long as they had, but he figured love was pretty inexplicable like that.

He'd never been in love himself. There had been a few girls at Bloor's, but he'd always been too shy to talk to them, or too scared of rejection. Even now, the girls he went out with rarely made it past date number two. He and Charlie had tried to figure out the reason for his lack of romance at the gang's ritual Thursday pub night, but they hadn't come up with any solutions (although to be fair, they'd both been highly sloshed, and Emma had been crying since Tancred had come with someone else…again. Gabriel thought the girl should just say something already. After all, it had been nearly ten years…). He shrugged to himself. Whatever the reasons, it had nothing to do with the here and now. Here and now, he needed a tie. Preferably a tie that came in its own plastic box. He'd just stepped off the escalator when he saw her. He'd become so used to the anonymity of the store that it took a moment to recognize the familiar face browsing half-heartedly among the scarves and tights.

Dorcas Loom.

Dorcas had been the only other endowed with a clothing related talent, although hers tended towards bewitching rather than extracting memories. Gabriel was shocked to see her in the store; he hadn't thought about her in years. He remembered she'd briefly dated Manfred during her last few years at school, but she'd inexplicably cut off her association with the entire Bloor family soon after graduation, and disappeared. Apparently she'd also moved to the city.

He edged forward, intrigued despite himself. She'd changed since she graduated. In school, she'd been a pale, puffy-faced girl with a sour expression and a perpetual frown. Ten years later, she'd lost quite a bit of weight, and her face had none of the hardness it had when at Bloor's. She was still rather short, and had the same long blond hair and huge blue eyes she'd possessed as a teen. Gabriel watched as she picked up a scarf, examined it, and set it back down. She didn't seem to be up to anything suspicious, but he couldn't be sure. Suddenly, she looked up, her eyes locking with his across the tie display. He instinctively ducked behind some handbags.

It wasn't until he was huddled on the floor that he began to get angry. The store was his sanctuary, his place of refuge. He'd nearly convinced himself that he was over the paralyzing shyness that had plagued him as a teenager, but one sight of his old schoolmate and he was suddenly thirteen again, and remembering the way his throat would close up when confronted with people he didn't know. He shook his head, mentally telling himself that he was twenty-three years old, and he shouldn't have to cower on the floor because of a girl (although he wasn't sure if he could call her a girl, despite the slim hips and large eyes). Lost in his mental battle, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

"Gabriel Silk?" Dorcas' voice had none of the malice he'd become used to hearing at Bloor's. Instead, it had only a gentle curiosity combined with vague amusement.

"Were you bewitching those scarves?" he blurted, since her amused gaze made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

"No," she said slowly, "I was looking at them, so I could buy one. In case it escaped your notice, it is cold outside, and many people enjoy wearing scarves to keep their necks warm." She was still looking at him with a smile, and he was surprised to find he was blushing.

"Oh," he said lamely, since there didn't seem to be anything else to say. He looked down at his feet, and wondered what, exactly, a person was supposed to say to someone who didn't exactly seem to be a mortal enemy, but certainly wasn't a friend.

"So, how've you been?" she asked, as though he hadn't just made a complete and utter fool of himself.

"Good…really…good," he managed, standing and attempting to recover what was left of his dignity, hoping that she couldn't tell he was lying, but pretty sure she could.

-x-

"I really think this one is going to work out," Asa proclaimed, dropping a grocery bag on Emma Tolly's kitchen table and leaning his elbows on the counter. Emma looked up blankly from the eggplant she was chopping.

"Did you guys get another gig at that brewery or something?" she asked, neatly scooping up the purple vegetable and adding it to the pan of stir-fry she was making. She honestly had no idea what her roommate was talking about, but with Asa, it was usually better to hazard a guess than say nothing.

"No, I mean the new band!" He leaned forward, watching her as she moved on to another eggplant. "You _know_ I haven't been with Fluorescent Robots since they wanted to do a cover of 'Dust in the Wind.' I told them last week that I had my standards, and Kansas is not included. I could handle Annie Lennox, but I do draw the line at Kansas."

Emma smothered the sarcastic reply on the tip of her tongue. Fluorescent Robots was the fourth band Asa had quit in the last month (in addition to being fired from two jobs), but no matter what, he remained stubbornly optimistic that there was something better on the horizon. Now he stepped back, sniffed the air, then flopped onto the couch and fixed Emma with a baleful look. "Also, you know I hate eggplant. I'm a red meat only kinda guy."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Eggplant was the cheapest vegetable at the grocery store. If _someone_ hadn't gotten fired, _again_, and forgotten to pay his share of the rent this month, we might have something different. You'll eat what I cook and like it."

Despite her words, there was no real rancor in her voice. She knew as well as he did that no matter how much he complained, he always ate whatever she made since he couldn't cook his way out of a paper bag.

"Sometime, when I get enough money, I'm going to bring home burgers, and then we'll see who's laughing," he said darkly, pushing his messy red hair out of his eyes and scrunching further down onto the couch.

Emma sighed, knowing it was always best to use a distraction when Asa started talking about meat (since she didn't feel like reminding him that she'd been a vegetarian for the past eleven years) and said, "So, tell me about the new band."

He brightened, sitting up. "Well, they're called 'the Sneakoscopes' and as far as I can tell, they are kind of Journey meets John Mayer meets U2 meets Scorpions with a dash of the Cure and some Poco for variety. You know, pretty standard."

"Huh," Emma said, turning back to the stir-fry.

"They actually have some fairly decent originals though, and their covers aren't bad," Asa offered. "I have a gig with them next Thursday if you want to come."

"I have to work late, but I'll try to make it," she said, pulling the pan off the stove and emptying it onto their plates. "Here, have some stir-fry."

He grinned at her and stood up, stretching his arms over his head, and causing his threadbare t-shirt to ride up slightly. Emma hastily looked down, focusing on the vegetables. Moments like this sometimes made her forget that she was already in love, and had been in love, with Tancred Torsson almost her entire life. Even if he hadn't realized it yet, she was sure it was just a matter of time.

Besides, Asa was a wreck. _A complete wreck_, she told herself firmly. He constantly switched between playing in bands and working, and lately it seemed like the smallest excuse was enough to quit. He quit bands because he "hated the set list" or "the sound at the gig wasn't mixed right" or "their name sounded stupid." He was fired because he "got bored" or "mouthed off" or "accidentally set fire to one of the printers." He'd recently been fired from the marketing company he'd been working for and was working for minimum wage at a local record store. Not exactly Emma's idea of an ideal provider.

Although, Emma conceded, it wasn't exactly as though she was living her dream job either. Working long hours at a desk on a salary that could barely keep her dressed was not really where she'd imagined herself when she'd graduated. She told herself she was just working her way up. Eventually people (ok, Tancred) would see how valuable she really was, and then she'd be promoted, with a corner office, and even her own extension line. It was just a matter of time. At least that's what she told herself when her boss made her stay late without pay… again. However, Emma was getting used to living life in a way that wasn't exactly planned…like having Asa as a roommate.

After his family had nearly been killed, Asa completely disappeared, and Emma nearly forgot about him until he had inexplicably turned up on her doorstep with no job, no money, and a plea to stay "just a few days" until he "got things settled." Emma, bleeding heart that she was, couldn't refuse.

He was much thinner than she remembered, though he had been skinny to begin with. There were new shadows under his eyes, and his trademark smirk had been replaced with a wary, hunted expression. His hair was much darker, and his freckles had faded, as though he had spent a long time indoors. The combination of changes made him appear almost delicate, although when he met her eyes, Emma could still see traces of the predator buried below his cautious exterior.

A few days had turned into a few weeks, which eventually turned into a few months. She'd never told him to leave, and he'd never found a new place. Emma found she was more or less stuck with Asa Pike as a permanent roommate who couldn't cook, couldn't hold down a job, was usually late on the rent, and somehow always managed to convince her not to kick him out. He now had two drawers in the bedroom, shared the closet, slept on the couch, and occasionally fixed the leaky showerhead.

"Why me?" she'd asked him once. "Why not Charlie or Lysander?" He'd avoided her eyes and tried to change the subject, but she'd badgered him until he finally said, "You saved my life once, you know. I figured you'd be pretty good at it a second time around." Secretly Emma suspected it was also because Lysander was getting married and Charlie was mostly too frazzled to live with anyone.

She snuck a glance at Asa, who was eating his vegetables with a contented look on his face.

Sometimes Emma wondered what had happened during the time between graduation and when he'd turned up, hollow-eyed at her door. It was one of the few things they never talked about; he didn't bring it up, and she didn't ask.

"Oh, Emma, I forgot to tell you, Mrs. Readling in 4C called again. Apparently Mittens is missing again, and she suspects foul play. I told her you'd look into it," Asa mumbled around a mouthful of vegetables. Emma mentally resisted the urge to throw the frying pan at him.

-x-

Billy Raven watched with satisfaction as the doves carried the delicately scented arrangement of lilies to the third floor window. He'd given extremely specific instructions this time, and was confident that the flowers would actually reach their intended destination. He watched the doves tap the window, and then saw a slender dark-haired girl lean out to take them. She opened the card and read it, brow wrinkling in confusion. It was then that Billy noticed that her hair was somewhat longer than it had appeared from outside the window. He felt his heart sink.

He'd gotten it wrong again. He knew he should have used pigeons.

Although he'd worked with Inez Branko for almost a month, they'd never actually spoken, a situation Billy intended to change as soon as possible. They'd shared several looks across the room, and Billy had come up with the idea to have some of his dove friends deliver a bouquet to her house. He'd picked the perfect flowers and found the prettiest doves. Unfortunately, the doves had delivered the bouquet to her twin sister Idith.

He'd thought the doves had simply made a mistake, and had tried again the next week, and the next. Now, watching Idith gaze out the window with a small smile on her face, Billy was beginning to suspect foul play. Looking up at the window, he narrowed his eyes. Certain winged creatures had some explaining to do.

-x-

Tancred glanced blearily at Manfred, who was clutching his cup and looking completely sick.

"Give it up Bloor, you can't handle any more," he said, nearly falling off his seat and reaching for another glass.

"I can call my second, can't I?" Manfred said peevishly, gesturing to Joshua, who was glancing at the two with an expression of revolted fascination.

"No! You know the rules!" Tancred said, wiping his mouth and picking up his cup again. "Last one to finish all ten milkshakes has to buy drinks for the winner and his friends at the pub next Thursday. We've been doing this for three years and you ask the same thing every time." _And I've won every time too_, he added mentally. Manfred sighed, but reached for his drink. Joshua gave a half-hearted clap, while Zelda didn't even bother to pretend she was interested. Dagbert was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't surprising, since the drowner usually didn't show up until the end of the weekly challenge anyway. Tancred simply concentrated on his drink. A little bit of healthy competition always made him feel more in control, and more ready for the week. One last sip, and he set his glass triumphantly on the table.

"I win," he said, striving for nonchalance, but only managing smug. "See you on Thursday for drinks then." He stood, dropped a handful of cash on the table and sauntered towards the door, leaving Manfred and his disgruntled followers with a parting breeze. Victory was sweet indeed.

Joshua gave Manfred a reassuring pat on the back. "Maybe next week we shouldn't suggest a physical challenge. I bet you could beat him in Pictionary."

Manfred simply shot the younger boy a withering stare. "Joshua, _shut up_." He knew eventually, Torsson would get his, and then revenge would be sweet. It would be sweet indeed.

-x-

Charlie Bone woke up with a headache for the fourth day in a row, and was tempted to stay in bed. He'd let another call go to voicemail, which made three calls from Olivia, one from Tancred, two from Emma, one from Benjamin, one from Asa, and one from Fidelio that he _knew _he should answer, so unfortunately, staying in bed wasn't exactly an option.

Sometimes Charlie wished he hadn't been stuck with the job of being the glue in the group. He was happy that his friends trusted him, and liked being trusted with everyone's secrets, but lately, it seemed that whenever there was a problem, he was always the first one anybody called.

He checked his phone, sighing. It figured that out of all the people that called him, there were no messages from the one person he really wanted to talk to. Out of all his friends, Naren was the only one who never called him with her problems. He found that when he talked to her, he didn't have to help her. He could just be Charlie, not an advice guru or a problem solver; he could talk about anything. Except the fact that he loved her and she was dating his best friend. He hadn't quite gotten around to that part yet. Just then, the phone started to ring. Charlie buried his head under the covers and decided to phone in sick.

-x-

Olivia Vertigo wondered if there was an endowment that helped to get bloodstains out of other people's carpets. She'd tried several times to create the illusion of clean carpet, but as soon as she turned away or lost concentration, it faded back to its gruesome appearance. The more she concentrated, the more the stain seemed to spread. Honestly, how was she supposed to waltz down the aisle on the happiest day of her life when she was going to have to concentrate on making a huge stain disappear? _Stupid bridesmaids_, she thought, kicking at the stain vindictively.

"Rosalind!" she called impatiently. The wedding planner sighed, and turned from the caterer, where she was attempting to explain that the bride wanted tiny purple dancing princesses all over the cake. _In French_.

"Yes Olivia?" she asked, wondering what impossible thing the young woman would ask for next. Olivia's suggestions tended towards the impractical, fanciful, and occasionally bordered on downright absurd. Rosalind had already changed the food twice, the decorations three times, and the flowers five times.

"I don't think we can use this place for the wedding. There is a spot in the aisle. I cannot go forward with the greatest role of my career if the carpet is stained!" Her voice began to rise hysterically, and Rosalind hurried from the caterer to inspect the spot. She peered at the spot, finally making out a tiny brown stain near the corner of the aisle.

"I don't think that it's anything to worry about," she said neutrally, hoping to cut off another Olivia tantrum. Apparently though, it was the wrong thing to say.

"_Anything to worry about_? I am getting married in less than a week, and I am not walking down a filthy aisle!" Olivia shrieked.

"Something wrong?" a calm voice broke through Olivia's shrill rant. Rosalind looked up thankfully, catching sight of Olivia's fiancé, Lysander Sage. Lysander had been the bright spot about working with Olivia. He remained completely unruffled by the girl's indecisiveness, and usually managed to calm her down. Olivia looked up gratefully and clutched at his sleeve.

"Sander, we can't possibly get married! I do love you, but this church!" she pointed dramatically at the stain. "It can't possibly work out, and it's-"

"Maybe we can just put down a piece of decorative fabric or something," Lysander suggested mildly, cutting off his fiancée in the middle of her tirade. Olivia paused, and then pursed her lips, thinking. Then her eyes began to sparkle.

"Oh Sander," she gushed, "that is just so brilliant! We can do it in purple with sparkles and edge it with flowers-" Rosalind smiled to herself as the couple walked out of the church, hand in hand. As impossible as she was, it was nice to see kids who were so in love. Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see a young man with messy brown hair in wrinkled clothes, clutching a violin case.

"I'm sorry to bother you," he said hesitantly, "but I just talked to your secretary, and she told me you'd know where to find Olivia Vertigo." He ran one hand through his hair. "It's really important. I just…haven't seen her in a long time."

"I'm sorry, you just missed her" Rosalind said, but then because he seemed so desperate, she added "Can I give her a message for you?" He thought for a moment, and then said, "Could you tell her that Fidelio Gunn needs to see her?"

* * *

A/N: Sorry about the Cliffhanger end…updates as they come, classes are pretty crazy now, but I will try to update pretty quickly. Next chapter will hopefully have the gang together, and have Ben and Naren as well! Please Review (hint- the more reviews I get, the more quickly I tend to update…)


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I honestly meant to update this sooner, but then I was hit with the most hideous cold/virus thing of my life, which pretty much amounted to me hiding in bed, sleeping, sitting zombie-like in my classes, and pathetically asking my roommate to get me tea. I promise that I will respond to reviews much more promptly next time, even if it's just a line. That said, thanks for reading, and enjoy Chapter 2!

Disclaimer: _Charlie Bone_, all characters, places and related terms belong to Jenny Nimmo

* * *

_Chapter 2_

_In which Naren Thinks, There is an Interlude at Phoenix Records and at the Coffee Shop, Joshua Considers Zelda, Gabriel Takes a Risk, Emma Daydreams, and Olivia Slips  
_

Naren leaned her head absentmindedly against the windowpane, watching her boyfriend lead the latest litter of dogs through the obstacle course in the backyard and trying very hard not to get upset. Ben was mostly attentive, kind, and everything a boyfriend should be, and she had absolutely no right to be jealous of things with four legs.

She'd come over earlier to show Ben her latest shadow box creation, the one that her art teacher had called "positively inspired." She'd begun taking art classes on a whim after graduation, and found herself intrigued by the boxes. She loved the feeling she got when she was in the middle of a project, when the outside world disappeared (which never seemed to happen often enough). She'd let herself in, but found no trace of Ben. She'd assumed (correctly) that he was in the backyard with the puppies.

"Ben?" She'd called. He'd bounded over, his hair tousled, looking very much like a puppy himself.

"Hi Naren," he'd said happily, "I wasn't expecting you! Guys, come say hi to Naren!" A few minutes later, she was surrounded by a wiggling mass of puppies, and just managed to free herself enough to say, "Ben, I have some really exciting news!"

He gave her a kiss on the nose (a display everyone else thought was cute, but something she'd never really cared for.) "That's funny, I have some news too!" He turned to the puppies. "Oi, you lot listen up!" He scooped up one of the puppies and gestured for her to go on, turning back to face her.

Feeling suddenly on the spot, Naren cleared her throat and announced, "My art teacher is planning on showcasing my art in his gallery later this month. I get my own show!" If Naren was looking for enthusiastic, she supposed at least that she'd picked a good group since the puppies jumped all over her after her announcement, and Ben had to wade through them to give her a congratulatory kiss.

"That's so great! I am really proud of you. So, guess what? The puppies can sit _and_ go through the tunnel now! Want to see?" Of course, there was nothing Naren felt less like doing, but she'd nodded, and Ben had proceeded to show her. Five times.

Three hours later, and he was still outside with the puppies. Naren reminded herself that he wasn't always like this. When the puppies were adopted, he'd go back to being the normal, decent man she'd decided to date in the first place. They were just in the temporary puppy rut.

Although…just before she'd come inside, he'd shoved one (a shaggy puppy with adorable brown eyes) into her arms and said, "Isn't she the sweetest? She reminds me of you!" A horrible sinking feeling had washed over her, and she'd wanted to run screaming from the ball of fur in her arms. Naren had never told Ben she wasn't all that fond of dogs. In fact, she'd always sort of wanted an iguana, but she figured the news might send him into hysterics. She wondered if she should call Charlie. He was the only one who would really appreciate her gallery opening, but he was probably busy with everything else. She picked up her phone, staring at it for a long time before finally setting it back on the windowsill and staring listlessly back out at the yard.

-x-

"You coming to pub night this Thursday?" Charlie asked, flipping absentmindedly through the new releases. It was a fairly quiet day in Phoenix Records, which was why he figured nobody would try to find him if he spent a couple hours browsing. Besides, Asa was usually good for a few hours of stress-free quality time, and his boss never seemed to be in the store, so there wasn't any danger of being caught loitering. The older boy usually didn't ask for help sorting out his problems, and didn't ask too many questions. He also had excellent taste in music.

Asa considered. Thursdays were predictable. If Tancred wasn't there, everything would probably go well, and everyone would have a good time. If Tancred _was_ there… Emma would try to flirt with Tancred, Tancred would reject her (as usual), Emma would usually drink too much, and Asa would end up bringing her home and be forced to listen to her tearful barrage of questions. Why wasn't she good enough? Why couldn't he see they were meant to be together? Why did he keep leading her on?

After months of watching this drama, Asa had questions of his own. Why couldn't Emma just let go? A few months of a relationship when they were teenagers didn't necessarily equal true love. The girl hadn't been on a second date with anyone else since Torsson broke her heart at graduation. Why hadn't she been able to move on? Why didn't she _want_ to? Then again, if he didn't go, he'd just stay at home until someone called him to come pick up Emma, whereupon the questions would start anyway. He might as well see if he could get a free drink out of it.

"Are you going to buy anything?" he asked finally.

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Do I ever buy anything?"

Asa eyed him speculatively, taking in Charlie's rumpled clothes and hunched posture. "You're hiding."

"Hiding from what?" Charlie tried to look innocent, but failed completely. Asa just shrugged and went back to organizing the used records. They browsed in silence for a few more minutes.

"You should talk to her," Asa said finally, his voice sounding unnaturally loud over the music in the store.

"Talk to who?"

"Go to work Charlie," Asa said, grinning at him. It was rare to see Charlie so flustered, and he was thoroughly enjoying it. "If you're going to live in denial, you might as well deny and make money at the same time. But you and Naren need to talk. It's driving everyone crazy when the two of you are in a room together," he added.

"I need to go," Charlie said quickly, heading for the door. Just before stepping outside, he turned back to Asa, who was watching him with a half-amused, half-concerned expression. "How did you know?"

Asa looked up from the records. "Because you Charlie, are many things. You're loyal, honest, brave, and all that. But you'll never be an ABBA fan, and you've been staring at their CDs for the past fifteen minutes."

Charlie grinned. "Thanks Asa."

"No problem. Maybe next time you'll buy something."

"Sure thing," Charlie said, inwardly thinking that while he probably should follow Asa's advice, talking with Naren was the last thing he wanted to do.

-x-

Billy tapped his fingers nervously on the counter as he waited for the barista to finish his double espresso. He'd never felt such an urgent need for caffeine (although he suspected it had something to do with his latest humiliation at the hands of Inez Branko's sister). As soon as his drink landed on the counter he snatched for it with eager hands and took a long drink to steady his nerves.

"Excuse me, but I think that's mine," a quiet voice interrupted his coffee laced bliss. Billy nearly spit his drink out. Standing in front of him, wearing a quizzical expression, was Idith Branko, wearing a floral skirt and a filmy blouse, a light coat over her arm. Now that he was facing her, he could see that she didn't really resemble Inez as much as he'd thought. Her hair was much longer, her eyes were darker, and he _knew_ Inez didn't have a sprinkling of freckles across her nose.

"I'm _so_ sorry…I just…needed caffeine," Billy stammered awkwardly, thinking that, as situations went, this was possibly one of the most awkward of his life.

"It's fine," she said, waving away his excuses with a slim hand. "One drink is pretty much the same as another to me. I'll just have yours. What did you get?" He told her, and watched her face carefully. Most people's faces scrunched up when they heard his coffee preference, but she just grinned, walked to the counter, grabbed his drink, and took a sip without even making a face. He felt oddly on the spot as she studied him, making no move to leave.

"Hey, you're that guy…from the zoo," she said finally.

"Yeah, that's me," he said, somewhat confused. "The technical term is zoological veterinarian though, and I'm not sure where you would've seen me. I'm kind of a behind-the-scenes guy."

"Well," she said, "I mean, you work with my sister, so I've seen you around a couple times. You're practically a wizard with those animals," Now she was the one blushing, and Billy felt oddly confident, confident enough to ask, "Where do you work? Not with animals, I'm assuming."

"No, plants," she said, fingering her cup. "I'm in charge of the greenhouse at the park. It's mostly upkeep and study, but I love plants and flowers, so it makes me happy."

"Oh, you…like flowers," Billy said, his inner voice screaming _she knows!_ while logically he figured (hoped) it was just a coincidence.

"Yeah." They were both quiet. Finally Idith looked up, saying apologetically, "I really have to go, I'm going to be late otherwise. I'll see you around though…?"

"Billy," he said, feeling a little flushed, but not necessarily in a bad way.

"Billy," she said, smiling to herself. "I'm Idith."

"Idith," he repeated. "I'll see you around then, Idith." She waved, and he was left with her name, her coffee, and a lot of confusing feelings.

-x-

Chuckling to himself, Tancred watched from his table as Billy made a hopeless fool of himself in front of Idith Branko. "Attraction is a strange thing," he commented, leaning back in his chair and taking a leisurely sip of his drink. Lysander simply nodded his agreement, glancing around the small coffee shop with amusement. "Look at you," Tancred continued. "You're barely twenty-five and you're almost tied down for life." He sighed dramatically. "What happened to us mate? We were going to take over the world!"

Lysander just shrugged easily. "Things change. People change. They grow up. You know, you might want to try it yourself sometime."

Tancred laughed. "You know that will probably never happen. Besides, love is just infatuation dressed up."

Lysander raised an eyebrow. "Who would've thought? Tancred Torsson, philosopher. I guess those years of school actually paid off." He smiled before asking carefully, "What about Emma?"

"What about her?" Tancred asked running a hand through his hair and squinting at his friend.

"She's a good person Tancred, and she obviously loves you."

The smile slowly disappeared from Tancred's face. "Did Olivia put you up to this?"

"I refuse to answer that," Lysander said, calmly taking a sip of his drink.

"Thought so," Tancred said, leaning back again and smirking. "I know what everyone says Sander, but you can't force something that isn't there; that isn't ever going to be there. We tried it once before, remember? It didn't work then, and it isn't going to work now. So you can tell Liv thanks, but no thanks. Now that," he said, eyeing Zelda, who had just come into the coffee shop, "That, I wouldn't mind... Hey Zel, looking good today!" he called, prompting a ferocious glare from the girl and a chuckle from his friend.

"You're a twisted man Tancred Torsson," Lysander said, thinking that at least he could tell Olivia he'd tried, and secretly glad Tancred had no interest in Emma, since as much as he liked his friend, he didn't want Emma to be hurt again.

-x-

"Yeah, I'm…really…good."

Gabriel wondered why Dorcas was still standing in front of him. Usually by this point in a conversation, the girls he tried to talk to realised his lack of people skills and left, but she seemed completely unfazed. She actually nodded at him.

"Cool. I'm in interior design, mainly, which sounds interesting, but isn't really. Mostly just people asking for my opinion, and then doing exactly what they want regardless of what I say." She smiled again. "So…," she continued, raising her eyebrows and crossing her arms, "I heard you work in software. That seems pretty…"

"Un-impressive for an endowed?" he interrupted, raising his eyebrows back at her and mentally wondering who she heard from, since he hadn't heard anything about her since graduation.

"I was going to say clever. I hear it takes loads of schooling to really get good at all that high tech stuff."

He shrugged. "I work in a cubicle and talk by phone or by instant message with people about antivirus software. I have a coffee cup with my name on it and try to avoid touching people at all costs." He rubbed a hand tiredly across the back of his neck, and wondered why in the Red King's name he was telling her all this. It definitely made him sound like a loser. _At least I haven't mentioned the gerbils, _he thought.

She met his eyes seriously. "I never realised how hard it was…is…for you. Your endowment, I mean." Then, unexpectedly, she smiled. "Gabriel, when was the last time you took a risk?"

He blinked at her, wondering what she'd say if he told her he couldn't remember, but before he could answer, she'd reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him away from the displays. He looked down at their linked hands, marvelling at the cool, dry texture of her skin, and then wondered who would feed his gerbils if she decided to strangle him with the scarf she'd bought.

-x-

_Efficient_ was probably the word that Joshua Tilpin would use if pressed to describe Zelda. In her straight black pencil skirt and white shirt, she looked like the model of corporate efficiency. Her hair was perfect, not a strand out of place. Everything in her life was filed, stamped and alphabetized. He sometimes wondered why she chose to spend all her time at their apartment since he, Dagbert, and Manfred were definitely not corporate.

Manfred, when not planning to beat Tancred at the weekly challenge, was usually on the computer (he ran an internet company that designed role playing games), or arguing with Zelda about something. The two had developed an almost sibling-like camaraderie since graduation, and rarely missed out on an opportunity to needle each other about something.

Dagbert, on the other hand…Joshua had no idea what his other roommate did with his time. He'd show up occasionally, give vague answers when pressed, and disappear again. Joshua figured most of the time, it was better not to ask. Besides, he had school to concentrate on. He'd decided to do grad studies in literature after Bloors, and was shocked to find it was more difficult than he'd expected. A lot more difficult.

He'd been surprised when Zelda had offered to help him. He'd always thought math was her thing, but she'd been surprisingly knowledgeable about literature, and Joshua was doing better than he expected. Unfortunately, it meant that Zelda was around more often.

"Your apartment is disgusting," Zelda called from the kitchen, where she was busy with the dishes.

"That's why we engage such an attractive maid," Manfred shouted back from the computer room. Zelda marched back into the room, hands on her hips. She opened her mouth to reply, but then seemed to think better of it and said, "Torsson was ogling me today at the coffee shop."

Joshua looked up from his book. "Seriously?" He'd always known Torsson had nerve, but taking on Zelda showed some serious backbone. The girl had six-inch claws.

"Jealous?" Manfred asked, coming in from the computer room to perch on the arm of the couch.

"Just curious," Joshua said neutrally. Lately, Manfred had been making all sorts of comments about him and Zelda that Joshua was _definitely _not interested in hearing. It actually made him feel a little scared.

Now, Manfred was staring at him with a thoughtful expression on his face. Joshua didn't like that expression. It usually meant Manfred was plotting, and plotting was never good.

"Hey, I think I have an idea for a weekly challenge…" he said slowly.

-x-

Emma leaned her head against her computer, wondering if time actually moved slower in her building, or if it just seemed that way. The previous night, she'd been forced to track the wayward Mittens out to the fifth floor fire escape, and then been branded a cat-thief when she'd returned him to Mrs. Readling. Asa had merely found the entire escapade highly enjoyable. As a result, she'd woken up groggy and irritable that morning.

Sighing, she reached into her bag for a pen, stopping when her fingers encountered a small, paper-wrapped parcel. She unwrapped it carefully, smiling at the slightly smushed cookies inside. As irritating and impossible as Asa could be, Emma grudgingly admitted to herself that sometimes he was unbelievably thoughtful, especially since cookies were among her favourite foods.

Emma had liked living alone. She liked the silence to think and dream and draw whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. Asa had been a somewhat unwelcome distraction. In those early days, she found herself skulking around the apartment trying to avoid him at all costs.

As a result, their first kitchen encounter had been awkward.

Emma was up late making cocoa when he'd slipped into the room, his uncanny yellow eyes roving over the dishes. He'd frozen when he saw her, and for a minute they'd both stood perfectly still, just staring at each other. He'd finally broken the spell, turning and moving towards the cupboards.

"I was just getting something to eat," he'd said, his tone low and somewhat apologetic.

"Do you…want a cookie?" she'd said finally, wondering just what, exactly, were-beasts ate. "I mean, if you like them, I don't know what you normally eat."

"What do _think_ I normally eat?" he'd asked, eyes lighting with something that might have been humour. "Raw steaks?"

"No…I-" she stammered.

He'd cut her off, the corners of his mouth tipping up slightly. "Yeah, I'd like a cookie." They'd eaten in a silence that wasn't quite comfortable, but not completely awkward either. It had slowly become a late-night ritual, the silences eventually giving way to conversation. Gradually, they'd adjusted to each other's presence until Emma could hardly imagine what it would be like _not_ to live with Asa.

She was startled out of her thoughts by the harsh ringing of the telephone. She quickly stuffed the cookies into her bag, reminding herself that if she was going to daydream at work, stormbringers were the only acceptable topic, and roommates were strictly forbidden.

-x-

Olivia rummaged through her bag for the keys to the theatre, inwardly wondering why, exactly, she'd thought it was such a good idea to wear her new stiletto boots that morning when she'd known very well that she was going to be walking a long distance, and Lysander had told her it was probably going to rain. She'd laughed him off, and worn the boots anyway.

It had (of course) begun raining nearly the moment she stepped outside, and the streets were a little slippery, which was why as soon as her hands closed around her keys her feet somehow got tangled and she fell in a very undignified heap on the pavement.

Her things cascaded out of her purse and she let out a string of very un-ladylike expletives as she gathered them up. Someone handed her a tube of lipstick and she grabbed it gratefully, tucking it back into her bag.

"Liv?" the person said softly. She jerked up, nearly spilling the contents of her purse again as she locked eyes with the very last person she ever expected to see on the street of her city. Especially since he was supposed to be in Vienna, and definitely out of her life.

"Fidelio?" she breathed.

* * *

A/N: okay, so the Fido/Liv situation isn't exactly clear yet…but it will be soon…promise!


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks so much to all the people who've sent me comments, PMs, or just read this story…it means a lot, especially since this is pretty different than anything I've written before. Hope you enjoy chapter 3!

Disclaimer: _Charlie Bone_, all characters, places and related terms belong to Jenny Nimmo

* * *

_Chapter 3- _

_In Which There is a Pub Night, Gabriel Discovers a Hidden Talent, Fidelio Reappears, Emma is Predictable, Manfred Hints at The Plan, Olivia Remembers and Billy is Distracted_

-x-

"I've never been so humiliated in my life!" Billy wailed, plunking his head down on the table. "She probably knows about the flowers and now she thinks I'm a crazy, coffee-stealing stalker!"

"Cheer up," Charlie said, giving the younger man an awkward pat on the back. "It probably wasn't all that bad." He made a slashing motion across his throat as Tancred desperately tried to hold back his laughter.

"Oh it was," Billy said, "It most definitely was." Lysander slid into the booth next to him, raising an eyebrow, but making no comment. The gang was beginning to assemble for their traditional Thursday night gathering, and the albino boy was thankful for his friend's silence.

Pub night had originally been Charlie's idea, as most things were. He, Gabriel, Lysander, Olivia, and Emma had moved to the city at the same time, and Charlie had come up with the idea of meeting weekly to keep in touch. When Tancred had moved to the city six months later, he'd joined them too, and they were eventually joined by Ben, Asa, Naren, and Billy. All nine of them had somehow managed to mostly show up every week to talk about work, romance and whatever else was going on. They'd all come to rely on it as a sort of support group, although Tancred continued to point out that "They weren't the sodding Breakfast Club."

Now, Charlie, Billy, Tancred and Lysander were seated at their usual table in the corner, waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. Tancred was busy glaring daggers at Manfred, who was sitting with Joshua and Zelda in the other corner. Billy still had his head on the table while Lysander signalled to the bartender. He noticed Asa and Emma come in, apparently arguing about something, which wasn't unusual. The two of them often managed to get in some sort of public fight every week before going home, a scene Lysander privately enjoyed to no end. He only managed to catch the words "Mittens" and "cookies" and "crazy cat lady" before the two of them approached the table.

"So, who's paying tonight?" Asa asked, plunking down next to Tancred and ignoring Emma's pointed glare as she took the seat next to Billy.

"The usual," Tancred said, pointing towards Manfred's group and grinning.

"I knew you'd beat him," Emma said, smiling at him and then turning to frown at Billy. "You okay?"

"Mmph," Billy replied, not lifting his head.

"Drinks here yet?" Charlie asked, drumming his fingers nervously on the table.

"Hey, you know we never order until everyone's here, and Ben and Naren haven't gotten here yet, and neither has Gabe or Liv," Asa said, giving Charlie a mock disapproving look.

"Liv's not coming tonight," Lysander offered. "I got a call from her earlier and she said she wasn't feeling well, so she's staying home."

"Gabe's not coming tonight either," Charlie said. "I got a text from him earlier."

"But…Gabriel never misses pub night," Emma said, giving him a puzzled frown.

"So, like I was saying, we should order," Charlie continued.

"What about Naren and Ben?" Lysander asked.

"Oh…um…they might not come...they-," Charlie started.

"Oh, hi Naren!" Emma said, standing up to hug the petite Asian girl.

"Hey guys," Naren said, sliding into the seat next to Charlie as Ben sat next to Lysander. "Sorry we're late. There was a puppy crisis."

"Yeah," Ben echoed. "One of the dogs got stuck under the fence. It was so scary; I really thought we might lose her! See, I was in the yard, and Naren had gone to get the keys and-," As Ben continued his story, Charlie let his mind wander, then experienced a near electric shock as his foot accidentally brushed Naren's under the table.

"I have to use the bathroom," He announced in the middle of the story, standing up so fast he nearly knocked over his chair. He rushed down the hallway, putting his hands over his face and taking a deep breath. _Really_, he thought, _This isn't so bad. I can handle this_.

"Charlie?" He froze at the sound of his name, and turned to see Naren standing in front of him, looking uncertain. He was struck by how completely perfect and how completely off-limits she was, and abruptly thought, _I can't handle this_.

-x-

Gabriel pushed his hands deeper into his pockets, trying not to openly gawk at the girl with three lip rings or the leather clad boy with the blue and green mohawk. He'd felt appropriately dressed in the department store earlier that day, but now his jeans and plain grey jumper seemed hopelessly out of place.

"Here," said a voice at his elbow, and Dorcas suddenly materialized, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards a table near the front. "Isn't this place great?" She was grinning, obviously aware of his discomfort. "A friend of mine found it about a year ago, and we've been coming to poetry night every month ever since. She couldn't make it tonight though, and when I saw you in the store, I thought it would be a perfect place to talk, don't you think?"

"It's something," he said neutrally. Honestly, a beat poet coffee house was not exactly the evening he'd pictured (especially on Pub Night, which he didn't think he'd missed once in the last three years), but Dorcas was already sliding into her seat and waving to the people around her, so he shrugged and went to join her. Just then, he felt a tug at his elbow, and turned to see a somewhat familiar looking young man with blue spiked hair and a tattoo of an octopus on his arm staring at him with an amused smirk. (Gabriel wondered why everyone seemed to be smirking at him lately).

"Gabriel Silk? Never pegged you as the poetical type. Guess stereotypes have to change sometime," Dagbert smiled serenely and turned to Dorcas. "D! Long time no see! Is your friend going to show us his material?"

"Oh, I don't think-," Gabriel started, but Dorcas jumped in. "What? Are you afraid someone will finally dethrone you?" She turned to Gabriel, whispering, "Ever since he got published, he thinks he's the king of poetry. Never mind his book only sold about fifty copies."

Dagbert narrowed his eyes. "So you think you're better than me Silk? Well then, get up there and show me." He gestured towards the stage, and Gabriel noticed that the other patrons had grown silent and were staring at him.

He glanced at Dorcas.

"Go on," she said, gesturing towards the stage, her eyes glittering with laughter. He threw her a few helpless looks as the young man dragged him onstage. Once on the platform, he blinked rapidly as the stage lights momentarily blinded him. He stared out at the sea of faces, feeling as though they had suddenly multiplied in the last few minutes. He squinted again, shuffling his feet and finding Dorcas's eyes across the room. She gave him an encouraging smile, which somehow gave him the nerve to move forward to the microphone.

"Um," he said, his voice sounding unnaturally loud in the suddenly quiet coffee house, "I'm…Gabe…and…I guess I would like to share a…poem…tonight." He took a mental breath and hoped that the audience was feeling especially forgiving.

-x-

Olivia clutched her coffee cup tighter and stared at the young man across the table. Fidelio had offered no protest when she'd grabbed his arm and forced him into the closest diner, but he'd barely said a word since, except to order the all-day breakfast platter (which he'd managed to eat without taking his eyes off her). She'd been too nervous to eat, and thankful for her acting training that had kept her voice from shaking when she'd told Lysander she wasn't feeling well (although that probably wasn't a total lie).

"So," she began. "You wanted to talk…?" She trailed off, looking (really looking) for the first time at the man she hadn't seen since graduation day. His brown hair was darker and much longer, and he definitely hadn't had the trace of stubble at seventeen that he now had at twenty-three. There was also a sort of emptiness in his brown eyes that made Olivia instinctively want to reach out and fix, but she curled her fingers in her lap instead.

"Listen, Liv, I know about you and Sander, okay?" Fidelio interrupted her thoughts, his eyes not moving from her face, and she remembered how she used to love it when he looked at her like that, when it seemed like she was the centre of his whole universe.

"I-," she started. He cut her off with a shake of his head. "It doesn't matter anymore. You said what you wanted at graduation. It's just…" he cleared his throat, eyes flicking briefly down to the table before meeting hers again, "It's just that I need a job, Liv. I heard your company is looking for an orchestral director. I'm qualified, you know I am! I've played for some of the best symphonies and orchestras, and I really need this job."

"But…you…you're a professional musician. You were playing all over. I used to read your name in all the papers and things. Why do you suddenly need a job _here_?" Olivia was nonplussed. She'd imagined hundreds of scenarios where Fidelio came back, but never this one.

"I can't tell you that," he said, shrugging and looking down again, "But I'd like you to trust me."

"I don't know," Olivia said doubtfully, reaching for her coat, only to be stopped by his hand on her wrist.

"Please, Liv," he whispered, tugging her forward across the table and it briefly crossed Olivia's mind that she should stop him because she was _engaged_, but then his fingers were tangling in her hair and his mouth was on hers, and she was suddenly drowning in nearly forgotten memories, and she found herself half saying and half sighing, "You can start Monday."

-x-

"Here's the plan," Manfred said, handing out a paper printout to Joshua and Zelda. "I've outlined the key steps in red, and your parts are green and purple, respectively."

"Is that a pie-chart?" Zelda asked, taking her paper in the very tips of her fingers and regarding it as though it was some sort of poisonous animal.

"I like pie," Manfred said darkly.

"O-kay," Joshua said quickly, "Let's hear the brilliant plan before Torsson comes over to throw down a challenge."

Zelda rolled her eyes but Manfred seemed to be appeased since he looked down, tapping his own paper with his pen. "We're going to start small. We all know Torsson can handle every physical challenge that's been thrown his way, so we're going to branch out. For now we carry on as though everything is normal."

Joshua thought about mentioning that he'd said this several times before, but Manfred had always shot him down, so instead he nodded.

"So just what did you have in mind?" Zelda asked, examining her nails before signalling the bartender.

Manfred grinned wickedly. "We find someone to use as bait."

-x-

"Okay, come on then," Asa said, carefully steering Emma towards the apartment.

She leaned against the doorframe as he hunted through the pockets of his threadbare corduroys for the keys, regarding him with half-lidded silvery blue eyes.

"You left your keys in the fruit bowl," she said conversationally, after he'd been looking for at least ten minutes. "You always leave them there. I knew you would, so I put extra ones in the flowerpot." He stared at her for a minute, and then leaned past her, fishing the spare keys out of the flowerpot.

"Thanks Em," he said, unlocking the door and slipping an arm carefully around her waist. She leaned into him and he was momentarily distracted by her perfume, something floral and a little citrusy.

"You're a wreck," she murmured sleepily as he manoeuvred her awkwardly through the door and he was brought abruptly back to reality.

"Well, you're not exactly all together yourself tonight," he said, the words coming out a little harsher than he intended, depositing her on the couch and going to the kitchen to get her a glass of water. When he came back she was sitting up, mascara a little smeary, with a blanket tucked around her. He sat down next to her, wordlessly handing her the glass. She took it without speaking, and for a moment they were just silent together. Asa let himself slip into the ritual of a Thursday evening after Pub night, although the evening had been more eventful than most.

Charlie had come hurrying out of the hallway with Naren trailing him, wearing a confused and hurt expression. Neither had offered an explanation, but Charlie had refused to say anything and had left soon after, and his departure prompted an argument between Naren and Ben, who has left as well. Billy had refused to be cheered up, and also refused to drink anything but strawberry milkshakes. Tancred had, predictably, asked out some pretty girl at the bar, and Emma, predictably, drank too much, so Asa had just decided to take her home.

Just then, Emma turned to him and said, "Am I really not together?" Before he could say anything, she continued, "Maybe that's why he left. Because I wasn't together enough. I didn't have my life figured out. I wasn't-," Asa realized with growing alarm that her eyes were growing increasingly shiny, and quickly said, "Em it…it wasn't you. Torsson's an idiot. He'd have to be one not to see-," Realizing he'd come closer to the truth than he intended, he broke off, darting a nervous glance in her direction. Luckily, she was already asleep, head resting on one arm and her feet curled under her. Asa stood quietly, tucking the blanket around her and switching off the light. Emma never remembered the things he said to her after pub night anyway, and that was how he intended to keep it.

-x-

"That," Dorcas chuckled, "Was by far, the best open mic night I have ever seen!"

"I'm glad you thought so," Gabriel said, crossing his arms and shooting her a dark look, "because if I ever run into any of those people again, I am going to die of humiliation."

"Oh come on. It was classic! I especially liked the line when you paused dramatically before describing Chester the gerbil's death scene. 'He never woke…never.' It was completely brilliant!" She laughed again, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater.

"At least Dagbert won't have to worry about competition," Gabriel said, smiling a little when he was rewarded with another laugh. He stopped on the sidewalk, turning to study the girl beside him. Dorcas's hair had escaped from the confines of its twist and spilled around her shoulders, and her eyes were brimming with mirth when she looked up at him.

"When did you start laughing so much?" he asked almost before he could help himself.

She hesitated a moment before growing serious. "I guess I just realized how much I missed at school by being nasty. I was really unhappy you know, and it was just easier to keep everyone away than try and be rejected." She sighed then, and Gabriel was suddenly struck with the urge to put his arms around her. He actually took a step closer to her before he caught himself.

Moving back quickly he said, "I know what that's like, believe me, I do. But not everyone is going to reject you. I mean…you're pretty and fun…and-," he broke off, wondering when his words had stopped being merely comforting and started becoming something else. He swallowed and was about to say something else when he was stopped by Dorcas's hand on his sleeve.

"You know," she said, smiling brightly, "for someone who never takes a risk, you, Gabriel Silk, are full of surprises." Then she was rising on her toes and before Gabriel could process what was happening, her lips had brushed his in the lightest of kisses. He rather thought he could get used to risk taking.

-x-

"You did what?" Emma's eyes widened behind her sunglasses and she tugged down nervously on her hat.

Olivia made a shushing motion with her hand and glanced anxiously around the coffee shop. "I told you, he just needed a job. I felt bad for him. He can't get one anywhere else, and he sounded really desperate."

The two girls were in the coffee shop the next morning drinking tea. Olivia hadn't been able to sleep the night before and had called Emma that morning for an emergency meeting. Emma hadn't exactly been happy, but she'd appeared, and privately wondered if the coffee shop had always been this bright.

"What I don't understand is why he has to get a job with you," she said, wincing a little. "There are plenty of places around the city for violinists to work. You don't have to go and get a job with your old school flame."

"Nothing else is going to happen with Fidelio and me, alright!" Olivia exclaimed.

"Do you have to talk so loud? I have a headache," Emma interrupted.

"As I was saying, I am perfectly able to control myself," Olivia continued, lowering her voice slightly and taking a sip of tea. "That stuff with Fidelio was a long time ago, and I told him it was over,"

Emma raised her eyebrows. "Have you told Lysander he's back?"

"Not exactly," Olivia admitted, "And you can't say anything either. I'll tell Sander myself, as soon as I see him."

"You should. The sooner the better," Emma said. She picked up her bag and her tea. "I've really got to go, Liv. I've got to be at work, and I still have to pick up something for this headache." She patted her friend's shoulder sympathetically. "It'll work out. Besides, it isn't like you've still got feelings for him or anything."

"Right," Olivia said, in what she hoped was a convincing voice as she watched her friend walk out of the shop. Once Emma turned the corner, Olivia plunked her head on the table and contemplated the mess her life had suddenly become. In a perfect world, there was always one boy and one girl and they lived happily ever after. _What happens when there's one girl and two boys?_ Olivia thought.

She'd begun secretly dating Lysander her third year at Bloor's, and their relationship had been everything Olivia had ever dreamed. Lysander was thoughtful, gentlemanly, fun, and infinitely patient. Even when she was at her worst, he managed to stick by her, and she'd never found anyone like that before. However, just because he was a wonderful person didn't necessarily mean they never fought. When they fought, they'd go for days without speaking, days that mystified their friends.

After they'd been dating for more than a year, they had one of the worst fights in their relationship, a fight so horrible that she'd actually told him it was over. Although they'd made up just before Olivia's graduation, she'd spent the weeks before that as an _actual_ single girl, a fact many of her friends didn't know. It was during this Lysander-less period that she'd become involved with Fidelio Gunn.

It was never supposed to mean anything. He'd been one of the few people perceptive enough to guess the truth about her relationship with Lysander. This had lead to crying her eyes out on Fidelio's couch, and when he'd tried awkwardly to comfort her, she'd found herself grabbing at him, pulling him close and kissing him. He'd pushed her away at first, but a week later found them in the same situation (minus the crying).

She'd told him (and he'd agreed) that it was completely physical; no strings attached, and when Lysander apologized, she apologized, and she thought it would be the end. But somehow, it wasn't. It lasted until the day of graduation, when he'd suddenly told her he _loved_ her, and she'd found herself suddenly unable to say anything. Then it _had _been the end. Fidelio had just disappeared, and she'd never said a word to anyone other than Emma…only now he was back, and Olivia had no idea what that was going to mean.

-x-

Billy Raven decided he was never drinking another milkshake. Milkshakes were evil. Very evil. Worse than alcohol.

He shook his head several times, trying to focus on the very large sedated polar bear in front of him, and not on the flowers he had sent this morning, which had once again been sent to Idith Branko. Only this time, it _wasn't_ an accident. Billy decided that maybe after work he'd go for a walk in the park. _No._ _Polar Bear_, he reminded himself.

"Billy? Are you okay?" A calm voice interrupted his thoughts. "You're just standing there with the forceps." He turned quickly to see Inez Branko in a white lab coat, standing next to him wearing a concerned expression. He wondered how he had ever confused her with her sister.

"Oh, I'm alright," he said quickly, moving over to the polar bear. "Let's just get this guy fixed up so he can get back out with his buddies." Normally he would have been ecstatic that she'd actually spoken to him, but now all he was wondering was if it would be rude to ask her for her sister's number.

-x-

* * *

Wow…So much drama! Just remember, _nothing_ is as it seems! I promise the next chapter will be more plot-filled and less angsty.

Reviews/Comments/ Questions/Clarifications are always _always_ appreciated/welcome, and make me update faster!


	4. Chapter 4

Apologies for the crazy long time between updates (I always mean to update sooner than I actually do…) Thanks again for the reviews and comments; it makes me happy to know that people are actually reading this, since it is basically my excuse to play with non-canon couples…

Disclaimer: _Charlie Bone_, all characters, places and related terms belong to Jenny Nimmo

_Chapter 4_

_In Which Dorcas Brings a Peace Offering, Fidelio Makes some Visits, The Master Plan is Explained, Charlie is a bit of a Stalker, Lysander isn't an Idiot, and There is Dancing _

-x-

"So, have you called her yet?" Tancred asked through a mouthful of eggs. Gabriel choked on his coffee while Charlie tried to hide his smile. It had barely been eight hours since his _something_ (encounter, adventure, date…he wasn't sure quite what to call it) with Dorcas, and Charlie and Tancred had already descended on his apartment with the excuse that they wanted breakfast and had _both _mysteriously run out of eggs. Gabriel had returned that evening in a practically giddy state of mind. He'd never been on a date with a girl that had ended with her actually kissing him (in fact, he usually ended either saying something idiotic, or worse, passing out after accidentally touching their clothing). However, Tancred's comment was enough to instil a bit of doubt.

"I'm an idiot," he moaned. "I didn't even get her number!"

"Well then what happened if you didn't get her number?" Tancred asked.

"I told you, she laughed at me, then she kissed me and ran off," Gabriel said, feeling utterly miserable. "I am clearly a failure with all womankind."

"Eh," Tancred said, shovelling the last bits of eggs into his mouth, "You couldn't be more of a failure than Charlie here. You should've seen him with Naren last night. Boy was a complete disaster."

Charlie shot Tancred a glare. "In case you'd forgotten, Naren has a boyfriend," he said pointedly. "Besides, we're _fine_."

"Oh please. You ran like a scared rabbit whenever she got near and left as soon as you could," Tancred said. Charlie looked as though he was about to reply, but was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Gabriel said, standing up and mentally calculating if he had enough eggs for both Billy _and_ Lysander. However, upon opening the door, he was confronted not by his friends but by Dorcas Loom, who was leaning casually against his doorframe and holding a small wire cage.

"Hello," she said cheerfully. Gabriel didn't say anything. Her smile faltered a little and she held up the cage. "I bought a gerbil this morning."

"What?" he said blinking a little.

"Yeah," Dorcas continued. "I was thinking about your poem last night and then this morning I was walking by Pete's Discount Pets and I saw this little guy, so I went in and bought him. I bought a book about gerbils too! Did you know the gerbil originated in Mongolia?"

"Umm," Gabriel said. His original (although hastily decided) plan had been to act cool and aloof, but really, the girl had shown up at his door with a gerbil. What was a guy supposed to do?

"Look," Dorcas said when he didn't say anything else, "I'm sorry I ran off like that last night. I guess I kind of freaked out. Actually, that's not really a new thing for me. The freaking part, I mean. I don't really do long term…anything. But then you had to go and be _really_ nice, and I kept thinking about you and then there was this gerbil…," she trailed off, looking up at him with hopeful eyes, and Gabriel had the utterly novel sensation that she truly wanted _him _to make her feel better. He reached out, gently took the cage and said, "Did you name it yet?"

"The gerbil? I've been calling him Chester…out of respect, you know," Dorcas said, smiling a little.

"Well, Chester should really be with some friends. Gerbils are very social creatures and they don't like living alone," Gabriel said. Feeling a little bolder he added, "Maybe he can stay here for awhile and we can take a walk in the park."

Dorcas's smile became a full-fledged grin. "I think Chester and I would both enjoy that very much."

-x-

Fidelio wandered into Phoenix Records looking for some new music for his violin. He'd stopped at a local coffee shop that morning and the guy behind the counter had recommended the store, saying the employee knew almost every artist and was sure to find him some great new music. He browsed quietly for a few minutes, surprised by the variety, before heading up to the counter.

The man working was around his own age, with dark red hair. He was reading Eric Clapton's autobiography, but looked up curiously as Fidelio approached.

"Excuse me-," Fidelio started,

"Fidelio Gunn?" the man interrupted in a somewhat incredulous voice. Fidelio stopped dead. It wasn't often he was recognized, but being back in the city meant he had to always be on his guard. Glancing back at the man, he suddenly noticed a familiar pair of amber eyes, and his nervousness abruptly disappeared. "Asa Pike? You work here?"

"Yeah," Asa said, "Been here a few months. Pay isn't that great, but it's much better than working in a cubicle." Fidelio laughed, although he honestly couldn't imagine Asa working in a cubicle. "So," Asa continued, "What are you doing here?"

Fidelio looked up at the older boy, and for the first time, was struck with the urge to confide in him, an emotion he'd never felt around Asa Pike before. Last time he'd seen him, Asa had been Manfred's minion, and Fidelio wasn't sure how much had changed since he'd left, so he settled for a shrug. "I'm working for Olivia Vertigo's theatre company, directing the orchestra."

Asa frowned a little. "Liv hasn't said anything to anyone," he said, almost to himself. "When did she hire you?" he asked.

"Last night," Fidelio said, suddenly aware that Asa was better friends with Olivia than he'd previously assumed.

"Okay," Asa said suddenly coming out from behind the counter. Fidelio was surprised that the older boy was a bit taller and more muscular than he'd been at school. "Does Lysander know about this?"

"No one really knows I'm here except Olivia…and you," Fidelio said quickly, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone. It's…just really important that people don't know I'm here."

He didn't know if it was the obvious desperation in his voice, or if he just looked pathetic, but Asa stepped back and smiled. The smile changed his entire face; softening the angles and making him look suddenly not threatening at all. "Your secret's safe with me. Actually, if you're looking for some decent imports, we don't really have the good stuff here."

"Good stuff?" Fidelio blinked.

"Music," Asa clarified. "I have a couple CDs at my apartment, if you want to swing by and pick them up tomorrow morning. I'll be at work, but my roommate'll let you in."

"Your roommate?" Fidelio asked, wondering when, exactly, Asa had become an okay guy and hoping he didn't live with Manfred.

"Yeah, Emma Tolly," Asa said, and Fidelio blinked again at the small smile on Asa's face when he mentioned his roommate. _Asa and Emma? Guess some things have changed since I left_, he thought.

"Sure, I'd like to take a look at them," Fidelio heard himself say out loud, and wrote down the directions Asa gave him. He figured Asa didn't really know why he was in town anyway, and Emma wouldn't say anything. Besides, the guy seemed to have decent taste in music.

-x-

Billy strolled through the park, wondering why he'd never really come here before. Of course, he'd had to slather on sunscreen and buy a ridiculously huge pair of aviator sunglasses to protect himself, but on the whole, the park was nice. At least it was nice until he was yanked unceremoniously behind the decorative hedges.

"Remind me again why we're doing this," he said, adjusting his position next to Charlie behind the bushes.

"Because," Charlie said peering through the hedge, "Gabriel obviously can't figure out his own love life, and clearly needs my help here."

Billy squinted. "He seems alright to me." Gabriel and Dorcas were buying ice-cream from one of the vendors and Billy winced as Gabriel dropped his ice-cream on Dorcas's shoes. "Well, maybe a little clumsy," he amended, "But at least he's endearing."

"He's clearly careening toward disaster," Charlie said matter-of-factly.

"Charlie, as your friend, I think I should tell you when you're crossing the line," Billy said patiently. "You ever thought of going on a date yourself instead of following Gabriel on his?"

Charlie turned away, focusing back on Gabriel and Dorcas. "Believe me, a date is the last thing I need right now."

"Oh yeah, I heard there was something with you and Naren at Pub Night," Billy said.

"_There was nothing with me and Naren!_" Charlie nearly shouted. "Why do people keep saying that? Nothing happened!"

"Calm down," Billy said, "Gabriel might hear you!"

"Besides, it isn't like she even wants me anyway," Charlie said, slumping down behind the bushes. Billy sighed, peeking up over the bushes. Just then, he caught sight of a familiar dark-haired girl by the ice-cream truck.

"Get up," he said, standing up and adjusting his sunglasses.

"What?" Charlie asked.

"You're moping. Moping calls for…umm…ice-cream," Billy said, eyeing Idith Branko and hoping to catch her before she headed back to the greenhouse. He really did love the park.

-x-

Naren stared dismally at her calendar, wondering how, exactly, she was going to break the news to Ben about her art show. Ben had been planning a weekend getaway for the two of them (there was a dog show he really wanted to see and was planning to show one of the puppies), and he'd been planning for weeks and had already arranged reservations. Naren wasn't quite sure how to tell him that her gallery opening had been moved up to that same weekend. She and Ben were already on thin ice because of Pub Night.

Naren honestly couldn't remember coming that close to having a fight in public before. She and Ben had made up in the car on the way home, but it still felt like an uneasy truce, especially since she still wasn't sure exactly what had happened (or what hadn't happened) between her and Charlie in the hallway that night. She knew the exact sequence of events wasn't hard to define; it was the emotions that were complicated.

She'd been walking down the hallway to use her phone (she hated talking on the phone in public), and had seen Charlie coming out of the men's room. For some reason, the minute she saw him, she'd forgotten all about the phone call. Instead, she told Charlie about her gallery opening, and about her new shadow box ideas. He'd been completely excited, like she knew he would be (like the way her boyfriend _should_ have been), and it had been at that moment that everything had shifted.

He'd leaned in to give her a congratulatory kiss on the cheek, but she'd thought he was going for a hug, and somehow they ended face-to-face with her arms around him and one of his hands resting lightly on her cheek. They should have moved, Naren _knew_ that, but neither of them did. Instead, Charlie leaned in a little, and Naren clearly remembered thinking, _He's going to kiss me. Charlie Bone is going to kiss me in the hallway of the pub._

The funny thing was, even though she had a boyfriend (so it was _clearly_ wrong) Naren couldn't remember ever wanting a kiss from someone so badly in her life. In fact, she was leaning in as well, and she wasn't sure what would have happened if Lysander hadn't walked down the hall. As it was, he _had_ come down the hall, and she and Charlie had sprung apart as though electrocuted. Normally, Charlie would have said something to make the situation better, or she would have laughed the situation off, but neither of them said anything.

Instead, they'd both hurried back to the table, avoiding the other's gaze and being careful not to touch. When they'd sat down, their flushed faces spurred a comment from Tancred, and instead of laughing, Charlie had stood up and left the pub altogether. Ben had asked Naren if anything had happened in the hallway, a quizzical frown on his normally cheerful face. She'd told him nothing had (which was mostly true), but he hadn't believed her, and they'd nearly had a shouting match in the pub about trust issues and supporting each other.

Even after they'd patched things up, Naren caught Ben looking at her with that same frown he'd worn in the pub, as though she was a stranger. He'd been so hopeful about this trip, like it would make everything better. Secretly, Naren had hoped it would make everything better too, but now it just seemed as though it was making things worse. Taking a deep breath, she picked up the phone to break the news to her boyfriend.

-x-

"So," Zelda said, "I hope you still don't think I'm going to let myself be used as bait, especially since I am supposed to be on my lunch break right now." She leaned back on the couch and eyed Manfred and Joshua disapprovingly while sipping her coffee. Joshua wondered, as he always did, why she'd bothered showing up at all, since she'd barely listened to Phase One of the plan before stalking out of the pub the night before. She'd also informed them they were both crazy and should be hospitalized.

"Please Zel!" Manfred wheedled, "I'll buy you coffee for a month."

Zelda paused, and then pursed her lips, obviously considering the proposal. Finally, she shrugged. "What do I have to do again?"

Manfred pulled out the chart, waving it in her face. "Just distract Torsson from the challenge. We bet him that he can't go two weeks without a fling. The idea is to lull him into a false sense of security, and then you _pounce_ and Torsson is buying us drinks!" Privately, Joshua thought Manfred looked a little more deranged than normal, but he didn't say anything out loud, afraid of Manfred's reaction to the slight on his sanity.

Instead he said, "What am I supposed to do?"

Manfred shrugged. "Zelda needs someone to practice on, right?" Joshua snuck a fearful glance at Zelda and wondered if there was a contagious disease with suddenly occurring symptoms he could fake. She scared him.

-x-

Emma was a little put out when she heard the knocking at an obscenely early hour on her day off. Nevertheless, she shuffled out of bed, threw on a sweater and jeans and stumbled to the door where she saw a slightly familiar man holding a battered violin case.

"Emma?" he said hesitantly, "Asa said I could come by and pick up some violin imports?" She stared at him blankly when suddenly, the pieces clicked.

"Fidelio!" she exclaimed. He smiled at her and she wondered how she hadn't recognized him at first. "Come in!" she said, motioning him inside the apartment. She wasn't exactly sure how to respond to Fidelio's sudden appearance at the apartment, but she figured if Asa had sent him, it was probably all right.

"Thanks Emma," Fidelio said, examining his childhood friend as he followed her into the apartment. Emma had always been rather waifish, but watching her hunt for CDs, it occurred to Fidelio that she looked especially fragile.

"So…Asa Pike," he said, when she handed him the CDs and he was just standing awkwardly in her apartment with too many years of silence between them, "I have to say, I'm surprised you two ended up together." He glanced again around the apartment, where Emma's Renoir prints were hung next to Asa's classic rock band posters and the bookshelves were crammed with his biographies on musicians and her collection of classic novels.

Emma smiled, shrugging. "I guess life's just unpredictable like that sometimes. Tea?" When he nodded, she disappeared into the tiny kitchen and returned a few minutes later with two mugs. She gestured toward the table and he sat, gratefully accepting the hot tea. Emma sat down across from him, taking a sip from her own mug.

"It's really good to see you, you know," she offered, after a minute of silence. "We all wondered what happened to you after graduation. No one's heard from you in forever."

"What about you?" Fidelio said, anxious to direct attention away from himself and what he'd been doing after graduation. "When I left you were dating Tancred Torsson, and I come back and you're living with Asa!" He'd meant the comment as a joke, but he wasn't expecting Emma's face to close off and her gaze to drop suddenly.

"Emma, I'm sorry," Fidelio said quickly, realizing his mistake, and setting his mug down on the table. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it."

"No, it's alright, everyone knows anyway," she said with a trace of bitterness.

"So…What happened to you two?" Fidelio asked carefully, hoping he wasn't prying into her private business, but unable to resist asking. "When I left, everyone thought that you were in love and going to get married right out of school."

"So did I," Emma shrugged. "Then he told me that he wanted to try something else, see new things, that he wanted to find out if there was more to life than what he'd lived. So he left, went to business school and never looked back."

"That's rough," Fidelio said, "What'd you do? Afterwards, I mean. Did you ever ask him why, or if you did something wrong?"

Emma shook her head. "I was pretty upset for awhile. I waited at home, and when he didn't come back, I moved to the city with Olivia, got a job and an apartment, and I've been here ever since. I always figured he'd come back. That we were meant to be, and he'd realize it eventually. He just hasn't yet."

"So you just waited?" Fidelio asked.

"Yeah," Emma said, as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Until Asa."

"What do you mean, _until Asa_?" Emma asked, tilting her head and fixing him with a stare.

"Well, I just…" Fidelio felt suddenly uncomfortable, "You two are living together. I mean, the way he talks about you… I just assumed…"

"Well, there is no me and Asa," Emma said briskly, picking up the mugs and taking them to the sink (inwardly wondering why her previous statement caused her insides to twist), "We're just roommates."

-x-

Lysander Sage was not an idiot.

He'd known the minute Olivia had shown up at his apartment with her homemade apple cinnamon scones that something was wrong (it was the apple…any other fruit would have meant she was fine). She was currently buzzing around the apartment talking so much he could hardly get a word in edgewise.

Normally her chatter didn't bother him, but this chatter was nervous, affected, and screamed that clearly, something was bothering her. He thoughtfully picked up a scone.

"So, whenever you want to tell me what's wrong, I'm ready to listen," he said, taking a bite.

Olivia's eyes widened and she straightened an invisible wrinkle in her skirt. "Why would you think something's wrong?" he voice rose slightly on the end of the last word and she turned quickly to rummage through her purse.

"I'm not saying anything's wrong," Lysander said calmly, "I'm just saying, if something _was_ wrong, _hypothetically_, you could tell me."

Olivia sniffed and then sank onto the couch next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Okay, _hypothetically_, what would you do if you were really confused about something, but you weren't sure why, and-," she broke off and then added, "It's probably nothing, it's stupid."

Lysander chuckled at the typical Olivia logic. "Listen Liv, I obviously don't know the whole situation here, but I do know _you_, and I know you'll make the right decision in the end, even if it's difficult."

"Easy for you to say," she grumbled, but she laughed a little as she said it. Lysander just leaned his head against hers, smiling when he felt her relax against him. Sometimes he wasn't sure why he and Olivia had ended up together in the first place, but he couldn't imagine living without her.

-x-

After work that evening, Asa came home to the soft sounds of music spilling from the apartment. Setting his keys carefully on the counter, he went into the living room where Emma was standing in the half-light of the lamp, staring out the window at the city below. Swaying slightly to the music, she was obviously unaware of his presence. For a minute, Asa didn't move, simply watching the way the lamplight played off her hair. She sensed his presence and turned, smiling a sad, half-smile.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Fidelio stopped by earlier to pick up some music, and I started listening to some of it, and…it's just…this song…it's…stupid really. Tancred and I…we used to dance to this song, and he'd always step on my toes, but it just reminds me…," she trailed off, looking back out the window.

"Not stupid," he said, scooting closer and wondering if, just this once, he could push the carefully constructed walls of their platonic relationship. Most of the time, Emma was so completely closed off from any relationships, it was as if she lived in a glass box. After Tancred, she'd sort of shut down, creating an emotional barrier between herself and the rest of the world. She never dated, never went out, and rarely confided in anyone. It was if, after Tancred, she'd somehow forgotten how to love anyone else.

Tonight though, Asa sensed something was different, and that something made him reach his hand out toward her. "Here," he said, "Dance with me."

For a minute, he thought she'd say no, but then she moved toward him hesitantly, sliding her hand into his and shifting closer until they were just barely touching. He moved in too, wrapping his arms around her and beginning to sway a little to the music. She followed along with him, moving her arms to wrap around his neck, and he wasn't aware of anything except the way the wistful look slowly melted from her eyes. As the song died away they slowed and it seemed as though the world slowed too, and they were left staring at each other.

Asa finally broke the silence, saying, "Well, at least I didn't step on your toes." Emma started to smile, but suddenly seemed to realize where she was. An unidentifiable expression flitted across her face before she pulled back out of his arms.

"I have to go, I have work in the morning, and a lot of things to do, thanks though, for the dance," she said, looking strangely lost, her eyes huge and shadowed.

"Emma…don't...," his voice was pleading, but the walls were already back up, and she was backing away, disappearing through her door, and Asa was left alone in the room, wondering if Emma Tolly would ever let him in her glass box.

-x-

* * *

And so the plot unfurls…Will Emma ever move on? Will Olivia tell Lysander about Fidelio? Will Naren ever be happy? Will Manfred's insane plan actually work? Will Chester the Gerbil make some friends? Answers to these and other burning questions coming soon!

Reviews, as always, are love!


	5. Chapter 5

Yay chapter five! I know…crazy long time between updates, but I plead Finals Week as an excuse…I'm not one hundred percent happy with this, but it's been sitting her for so long that I'm going to post it!

Disclaimer: _Charlie Bone_ and all affiliated characters and terms belong to Jenny Nimmo

* * *

Chapter 5

_In Which Billy sneezes ,The Challenge is thrown down, Naren is disappointed, Joshua is uncomfortable , Gabriel goes on a quest, Billy is a matchmaker, Tancred makes a phone call, Olivia slips up, Charlie crosses the line, and_

_Asa says the wrong thing_

-x-

Billy grinned to himself as Idith Branko led him around the greenhouse. After he'd intercepted her at the ice-cream truck the previous day she'd invited him to come and see the greenhouse, and he'd accepted instantly. He followed her down a line of plants, admiring the way her skirt outlined her curves, and the way she looked in the green smock. He wasn't sure if there were many girls who looked good in a smock, but Idith Branko was one of the few.

"This is the orchid section. There are over three hundred types of orchids, but we only grow about one hundred and fifty of them here," she said, smiling proudly at the plants.

Billy opened his mouth to add a comment…and sneezed. And sneezed again. And found he couldn't stop sneezing. Around them, people stared. Billy remembered with dismay why he'd never been to the greenhouse.

"Are you alright?" Idith asked.

"Is there…," Billy managed between sneezes, "lavender in…achoo!...here?"

"Of course, in the herb section," she replied.

"I'm allergic," he said, before being overtaken with another fit of sneezing. His eyes were beginning to water, and he could barely make Idith out anymore.

"Oh no," she said, her eyes widening.

"I should…go," Billy said, finding his eyesight was becoming blurrier by the second. He turned, and hit something with his shoulder. He heard a crash, but it barely registered because he found himself tripping over something and falling to the floor. Then the world went black.

-x-

"Torsson," Manfred said, sliding into the diner booth across from the stormbringer.

"Bloor," Tancred echoed, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair, "Come to throw down another challenge that I'll definitely win?"

"Not today Torsson," Manfred grinned, "This is the week you go down."

"Well, hit me," Tancred said, raising a bored eyebrow.

"We bet that you can't go two weeks without a fling," Manfred said smugly.

"That's all?" Tancred said, the surprise evident in his voice, "You actually expect to win?"

Manfred just smiled. He'd seen the blond stormbringer's smile falter for a moment.

"Fine," Tancred said, recovering his bored tone, "You're on. Two weeks."

"Two weeks," Manfred said, shaking the blond man's hand and feeling that _this _was the week Tancred Torsson would finally eat his words.

-x-

"Honestly," Ben said, zipping up his duffel and flinging it onto his bed, "I don't see what you're so upset about. I mean, it's not my fault that I planned this weekend before your art show got moved up."

Naren said nothing, focusing instead on the large picture of a golden retriever that Ben had hung above his bed. Ben had barely said a word to her after she'd told him about her show being moved up, and she'd had to practically ambush him at his house. She'd been shocked when he'd announced he was going to the dog show without her.

Ben paused his packing, taking in her silence. "Look Naren," he said, "We can have separate lives sometimes. It's not like you need me at that show anyway, and this could be the opportunity the puppies need. Besides, I feel like you haven't wanted to be around me the past few weeks."

"That's not true," Naren protested, while her mind whispered statements to the contrary. "It's just…this show is important. I've really been working hard for it, and I'd like my boyfriend to be there."

Ben sighed, running a frustrated hand through his hair. "Well, I can't be there, Naren, so its useless talking about it, isn't it." He picked up his duffel and left the room, leaving Naren alone.

But really, she was used to that.

-x-

Gabriel paced his room. It had been three days since he'd last seen Dorcas. He'd called her, but her phone had been shut off. He wasn't really sure how to interpret the mixed signals anymore, and wondered if it was something he'd done. He glanced over at the gerbil cage. Chester looked lonely. He tried Dorcas's phone again, but there was no answer.

It wasn't until the sixth call that he remembered the coffee house.

After nearly getting lost due to two sets of faulty directions, Gabriel found himself in front of the café. He entered the coffee house timidly, squinting in the half-light.

He was three steps inside when a voice interrupted his search.

"You!" Gabriel whirled to see Dagbert Endless frowning at him, arms crossed like a petulant child, "What are you doing here?"

"Umm," he said, awkwardly shoving his hands in his pockets and suddenly aware of his un-artistic clothing and lack of tattoos, "I'm looking for Dorcas. I…haven't seen her in awhile and I thought she might…be here?"

"Nope," Dagbert said matter-of-factly, "Haven't seen her in a few days actually."

"Well, do you know where she is?" Gabriel asked. "She left her gerbil at my house."

"Her gerbil?" Dagbert blinked at him. "Haven't heard that one before." He paused and then added, "Dorcas has commitment issues. Everyone here knows to stay away from her; she'll lead you on and break your heart. I wrote a poem about it actually."

"Oh," Gabriel said, "Well then…I'll just…go…"

"Dagbert!" An unfamiliar voice broke into the conversation, "What are you doing? You're supposed to be wiping down those tables, and I don't see any wiping."

"Chill Beth," Dagbert called, "I was just telling the square here that I don't know where Dorcas is."

"Is that what you were doing?" the girl's voice continued, "I didn't know you were also a liar."

"It's true," Dagbert said, and Gabriel was gratified to hear that his voice had lost some of its smug superiority. Dagbert ran hand through his blue hair, then turned to Gabriel and said, "Okay, here's the deal. I'm going to help you, but only because I feel sorry for you, alright? I _might_ know someone you can ask, but you can't go looking like _that._"

"What's wrong with how I look?" Gabriel asked, looking down at his perfectly acceptable green shirt.

"If you have to ask…" Dagbert said doubtfully, eyeing Gabriel's clothes with distaste.

"Fine," Gabriel sighed, "What do I have to do?"

Dagbert grinned. "Meet me back here at nine. That's when my shift ends."

Gabriel nodded, and hoped this was going to be worth it.

-x-

Joshua Tilpin decided that if he was very, very still then this whole nightmare would be over and he could go back to reading _Le Morte D'Arthur_ in peace.

Unfortunately, he somehow found himself wedged between the couch cushion and Zelda Dobinski, who was watching him with a predatory gleam in her eyes. According to Manfred, who was in the kitchen, Zelda was supposed to be practicing her "wiles" in order to beat Tancred Torsson. Joshua was terrified.

Zelda leaned in, and he froze, feeling much like a rabbit when it sees a huntsman. Just when he thought he should fake a coughing fit, they were interrupted by the sound of a door slamming. Zelda pulled back, looking at the door, and Joshua suppressed a sigh of relief. Manfred stood in the middle of the room, glaring at them.

"What are you doing?" he asked angrily.

Zelda shrugged. "You're the one who suggested I practice for Torsson."

"I meant just practice, not…" he broke off, squinting at them unhappily. "If you two want to suck face that's fine, but I'm not going to watch."

"What are you talking about?" Zelda asked, her temper obviously rising, "This was your stupid idea in the first place!"

Manfred just turned and walked into his bedroom, slamming the door. Zelda and Joshua stared at the closed door. Zelda stood up, nearly knocking over her water glass.

"I'm leaving," she announced loudly. "When you two want to stop acting like idiots, call me." She swept out of the room, slamming the front door, leaving Joshua alone on the couch. He privately wondered when he had become party to Manfred's freak-out, and wondered if he should go after either of them, but he wasn't sure he wanted to face an angry Manfred or an angry Zelda, so in the end he opted to make himself a sandwich.

-x-

"So what happened after that?" Charlie asked, settling down in the café chair with his second cup of coffee.

"I couldn't stop sneezing, and then my eyes were watering and I ran into the orchid display and knocked it over. I passed out and had to go be checked for a concussion. Idith had to leave work to come and sit with me. After the doctor told me I was fine and gave me some allergy medicine, I apologized and left," Billy said morosely. "I believe that I have officially ruined any chance I might have had with this girl."

"That's what you said last time, and it didn't-," Charlie began.

"No, this is different. She loves plants and I am a plant destroyer," Billy said, staring out towards the park. "It's probably best for me to lay low for a while." He sighed and took a sip of his coffee. "So how are you and Naren?"

Charlie fidgeted. "There is no 'me and Naren' and I wish people would stop asking. We're _fine_."

"That's what you say…" Billy said grinning. "You know, her art show is tonight, and I've heard from certain sources that a certain boyfriend isn't going to make it."

"What?" Charlie asked, his eyes widening hopefully, "Who did you hear that from?"

"I dropped Ben off at the airport," Billy said.

"I can't believe he isn't going to be there," Charlie mused, "She's been working really hard."

"Maybe you could go," Billy suggested, striving for a neutral tone of voice.

Charlie seemed to be having an internal debate, but suddenly stood, picking up his coffee. "You know, maybe I will go to the show," he said decisively. "I'll see you later Billy."

"Bye Charlie," Billy said, wondering if he should have encouraged Charlie, since he and Naren were clearly careening toward disaster. However, Charlie usually made the right choice, and as Billy watched Charlie walk away, he hoped this time would be the same.

-x-

Emma was folding laundry when the telephone rang. She picked up the phone carefully, balancing it between her neck and shoulder. She and Asa rarely received calls on their apartment phone, and most of their friends didn't even know the number.

"Hello?" she said, wondering who could be calling in the middle of the afternoon, especially since the landlord only called at night.

"Emma?" The voice on the other end sounded hesitant and so familiar that Emma nearly dropped the phone in surprise.

"Tancred? What-," she began, wondering why Tancred Torsson would choose to call her, since after their break-up they rarely spoke in groups and never just the two of them. "How did you get this number?"

"Landlord," Tancred said hesitantly. "Listen Emma, I'm sorry to bother you if you're in the middle of something, but I need a favour."

"Sure, anything," she replied, trying to keep her voice calm, as if Tancred called for favours all the time.

"It's about the challenge. I'm sort of in a tight spot here," His voice became suddenly desperate, and Emma found herself hugging the phone closer to her ear, as if that would make him seem closer.

"See, Manfred bet me that I couldn't go two weeks without hooking up with someone," Tancred continued.

"Why do you need _my_ help?" Emma asked, "You could've called Olivia, or gotten Charlie or Lysander to help you."

"Well, I need you to keep me straight, since I know you don't really date or anything… I thought you could help," He said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I…I'm not sure," Emma said slowly.

"Emma, I'd really appreciate it. I…I need you," Tancred said, and Emma was suddenly reminded of when they were dating, and Tancred would call her late at night. They would spend hours talking about what was happening in their lives, and this remembrance caused her uncertainty to dissolve.

"I'll help you," she said.

"Great," Tancred's voice abruptly lost its desperation. "I knew I could count on you. I'll talk to you later Emma." He hung up, leaving Emma to stare at the phone, wondering if this was an opportunity to win Tancred back…or just another chance to have her heart broken.

-x-

Olivia was a nervous wreck. Rehearsal was the most excruciating torture she'd ever undergone, what with trying to act casual around Fidelio and controlling her pulse whenever he brushed by her. When the end of rehearsal came, she grabbed her bag and was about to leave when she heard Fidelio's voice.

"You're avoiding me." She turned to see him standing on the stage, his violin case in one hand, and a somewhat uncertain look on his face.

"Of course I'm avoiding you," she hissed, "I'm engaged and you…you made me…,"

"I didn't make you do anything you didn't want to," he said hotly, "You kissed me too."

"Well, I didn't mean to," she said defensively, crossing her arms over her chest.

Fidelio sat down on the edge of the stage, his violin resting next to him. "Hey, its okay, it's not like it hasn't happened before." Olivia wanted to flinch away from the bitterness in his voice, but instead she found herself walking over to the edge of the stage to sit next to him.

"I don't mean to," She said quietly, "You just make me confused."

"Ditto," he said, laughing a little. Then his face abruptly turned serious. "Listen, Liv, I want to tell you, about this job…"

"Hey, it'll be fine," Olivia interrupted, bumping his shoulder with hers. "No awkwardness, I promise."

Fidelio smiled, and then reached to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Olivia suddenly didn't feel like laughing anymore. She found the familiar feelings of being around Fidelio taking over and despite her earlier resolve, leaned in closer, even while her mind screamed at her to stop.

The banging doors of the theatre caused her jerk away and focus on the source of the noise. Lysander stood in the aisle, arms crossed across his chest.

"Hey Fidelio, I didn't know you were back," he said evenly, eyeing the musician.

"Fidelio just got in, and I gave him a job directing the orchestra." Olivia hated how her voice sounded high and tinny to her own ears.

"Oh," Lysander said, his voice not losing its neutral tone, "Well, we have that dinner tonight with your parents, so if you're all ready, we should go."

"Right," Olivia said, scrambling up from the stage. "I'll just…umm…get my purse." She grabbed her bag and practically sprinted down the aisle, hoping that her confused feelings would stay on the stage with the musician.

-x-

Naren shook another hand, and accepted the congratulations on her show. She'd been struggling all evening to be positive, especially since her show was garnering an overwhelmingly positive response. In spite of this, she still felt depressed, and wasn't sure why. Even when Lysander, Olivia and Asa had dropped by, she just didn't feel _happy_. She'd assumed it was because of Ben, and the fact that he obviously didn't care enough to be at her show despite the fact that dog shows happened nearly every week, and she wasn't sure when she would even get another opportunity to show her work.

Just then, she caught sight of a familiar figure weaving between the guests. Charlie looked a little confused, and his shirt was wrinkled, but Naren was surprised to feel happiness bubble up inside her at the sight of him. She knew then that something must be seriously wrong, because she wasn't supposed to _want _Charlie at all. He was supposed to be the supportive best friend, not the romantic lead. Even though she knew it was wrong, she allowed a smile to blossom over her face at Charlie when he came to shake her hand.

"Miss Naren," he said, and she felt her face flush when instead of shaking her hand, he bent and formally kissed her palm.

"Charlie," she said, hoping her voice wasn't shaking. He smiled at her, his eyes lighting with laughter and something else, something that made her breath hitch.

"This looks great Naren; I think it's the best you've ever done," he said, examining the shadow box closest to him, before meeting her eyes again.

"Thanks," she said, unable to tear her eyes from his, "I think so too."

"I heard Ben wasn't here," he said, his eyes finally leaving hers to rove around the room.

"No, he had a dog show," Naren said, unwilling to bring Ben into the conversation.

"That's…good," Charlie said, showing his first sign of uncertainty. "I just…realized something, and I think it's probably better that Ben isn't here."

"Oh. What did you realize?" Naren asked, feeling that they were at a turning point, and that whatever Charlie's answer was, it would irrevocably alter their relationship.

Instead of replying, Charlie reached down and laced their fingers together. Naren glanced around in a panic, but for once, no one was looking at them.

"When does Ben get back?" Charlie asked gazing intently at her face.

"Not until Monday," Naren said.

"Well, I've had about enough of this art show," Charlie said.

"Once you've had one…" Naren said flippantly, although she felt anything but flip. As she allowed Charlie to tug her away from the show, she put all thoughts of Ben out of her mind.

-x-

"Hey Emma," Asa called into the dark apartment, "I brought you some books that one of the customers dropped off. You'll like them; they're all by dead Russians." When there was no answer he advanced cautiously into the living room, only to nearly trip over Emma, who was sitting on the floor with a cup of tea. He'd wanted to talk to her about what exactly had happened between them the night before, but when he woke up he found she'd already left for work, and her phone had been shut off all day. Now, when she looked up at him, he practically flinched at the anguished expression on her face, but her look quickly morphed into a closed expression that indicated that she was _not _in a talking mood

"Why are all the lights off?" Asa asked instead, focusing on the dark around them.

She shrugged. "We forgot to pay the electricity bill."

He smiled, settling himself next to her. "I'll go rig the cables to Mrs. Readling's apartment until I can scrounge up the money for the bill."

Emma gave him a half-smile, and they sat in silence for a moment. However, unlike their normal silences, this one was anything but comfortable.

"Oh," Asa said, finally breaking the silence, "Here are those books. I thought you might like them." Emma took the books wordlessly, stacking them on the floor in front of her.

After the silence threatened to become interminable, Asa decided it was time to brave the question, so he took a breath and started "About last night…"

Emma gave a short laugh. "You make it sound like something bad happened. We danced, that's all."

"That's all?" he echoed, suddenly feeling very stupid and a little angry.

"Listen, I know what you're thinking, and its normal for two people who are lonely to gravitate towards each other, but I can't…I mean…," she broke off, staring down at her hands.

"Emma," he began.

"Tancred called today," she interrupted. "He wants me to help him go without a fling for two weeks."

"Oh," Asa said standing up, and fighting to control the anger that threatened to overwhelm him, "I get it. Torsson's back so I'm out, is that it? I notice he only called you because he wanted something, and he knew you'd give in."

The silence that followed his statement was possibly worse than the awkward silence from before. Asa wanted to take back the words, to unmake the sentences. He'd never said anything like that to Emma before, and he knew by the stricken expression on her face that he'd crossed another line.

"Maybe that's true, and maybe not," Emma finally said, so quietly that Asa could barely understand her. "Its not just…he called me; he wants my help. That's what people do that care about each other…they help each other." She stood, picking up her books, and walked to her bedroom, closing the door firmly behind her.

Asa just watched her go, thinking that the majority of his life these days consisted of Emma Tolly walking away.

Just then his phone rang, the sound harsh in the quiet apartment.

"Hello?" he said, squinting at the unfamiliar number.

"Asa?" Paton Yewbeam's voice sounded frightened, completely unlike the calm man Asa was used to. "Is Emma there? I've been trying to call her all day, but her phone has been off."

Asa glanced at Emma's closed door. "She's not here right now, but I can give her a message."

Paton took a deep breath. "It's Julia."

-x-

* * *

And the angst continues! What will happen next? What is happening with Aunt Julia? What will happen with Charlie and Naren? Will Ben find out? Will Gabriel find Dorcas? Who will win the challenge? Reviews guarantee faster updates!


	6. Chapter 6

Biggest apologies for basically ignoring this story for a month (I'm in Ireland, and it's really difficult to find time to write here) I put in lots of drama to make up for it though!

Disclaimer: _Charlie Bone_ and all affiliated characters and terms belong to Jenny Nimmo

* * *

_Chapter Six_

_In Which Gabriel Lives on the Edge, Emma is Worried, Billy Goes to Lunch, Charlie Made a Mistake, Gabriel Can't Keep a Secret, Naren Considers the Options, Manfred Graphs, Fidelio Could be in Trouble, and Tancred is Sloshed_

-x-_  
_

"No," Gabriel said flatly.

"Why not?" Dagbert asked, looking genuinely puzzled. "Tony's really good, I promise." When Gabriel continued to shake his head, Dagbert gave a longsuffering sigh. "Listen, Gabe, we already had to buy _new _clothes, because you couldn't wear anything vintage-,"

"Hey, that's not my fault-," Gabriel interjected, tugging on his new shirt, which sported the name of some band he'd never heard.

Dagbert held up his hand, cutting off Gabriel's tirade. "Secondly, I am helping you win back the girl of your dreams. The least you can do is this one little thing." Convinced the matter was settled, Dagbert turned back to the book he was looking through. "Now, I think a starfish would be pretty fierce, but what do you think?"

When Gabriel had met Dagbert behind the coffee shop, he wasn't sure if the younger boy was actually planning to help him or kill him. He was already more than a little insulted by the way Dagbert looked at him; as though he were a particularly stupid gerbil that had somehow started speaking. Gabriel had to admit, if he were in Dagbert's position, he would probably give the same look. Dorcas _was _just a girl, and from what he'd heard, not much of the commitment type. But there was something about the way she looked at him, and the way he felt when he was around her that made Gabriel want more closure than just a lonely gerbil. He didn't think it was _love _per se, but it was _something_, and that something had made him square his shoulders, look Dagbert in the eye, and say,

"So, what now?"

Dagbert had given him an assessing look and replied, "Clothes." Gabriel's nightmare began from there.

-x-

Emma woke slowly, blinking at the unfamiliar candle lights around her. She'd somehow fallen asleep in the hospital chair, and was lying in an awkward sideways position with Asa's coat over her. Asa was sleeping next to her, his head tipped back against the wall. After he'd driven her to the hospital, he'd stayed and taken care of the paperwork (she never thought his knowledge of her personal life would come in so handy). He hadn't mentioned their fight, but had brought her coffee and made sure that the doctors kept them informed of Aunt Julia's condition. So far the information had been minimal.

When Asa had banged on Emma's door in the middle of the night, she hadn't wanted to open the door. She'd been sure he'd wanted to talk about _them_ (which was just a whole knot of confusing emotions Emma had no desire to start unravelling), but the minute he'd mentioned her aunt the fight had become insignificant. According to the doctors, Aunt Julia had suffered a semi-serious stroke hours earlier that probably wouldn't damage her brain permanently, but they were concerned because she wasn't waking.

"Ideally, she should have woken hours ago," Paton had told them when they arrived, "but she hasn't moved. She's breathing regularly, but it's faint." Emma insisted on staying, and Asa made no comment, but had simply settled into the chair next to her. That had been nearly eleven hours ago, and Julia hadn't showed any signs of stirring.

The door to Aunt Julia's room opened and Paton entered, carrying three cups and balancing three bagels. "I brought breakfast!" he said, attempting cheerfulness. "I had to tell everyone I have a condition so they'll turn off all the lights for me." Emma took her cup, silently taking a sip. The orange juice tasted too sour in her mouth and she quickly set the cup down, folding her hands back in her lap. She felt Asa reach over and cover her hand with his. At any other time she would've frozen, would've felt weird or awkward, but now she just couldn't bring herself to care.

"Is there anything I can do?" she asked Paton instead, focusing on the man's haggard face.

Paton rubbed a weary hand across his forehead. "Emma, it's really alright. I can stay here with your aunt."

"No, I should stay-," Emma began.

"Emma," Paton said, "You and Asa both look exhausted. Go home. I _promise_ I'll call you as soon as anything changes, but for now I really think you need to go home and get some rest." Emma started to protest again, but Asa stood, nodding at Paton and tucking an arm around her shoulder, he led her gently out of the hospital.

Once outside, she turned to him angrily. "We can't just _leave_ her! What if something happens! What if she wakes up and I'm not there! I need to be there and you just let me leave!"

"Emma," Asa said patiently, "You heard Paton. He's right. We both need sleep, and we both have to go to work tomorrow anyway. Plus, I don't think your aunt would want you to be sitting there like a zombie in an uncomfortable chair instead of getting a good night's rest, do you?"

Looking up at him, Emma felt a small smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. "You would pull the Aunt Julia card, wouldn't you."

Asa grinned at her. "Yeah, I would." Emma stifled a yawn as he walked her back to the car and let herself lean into him just a little. After all, she was just tired, so it was alright.

-x-

Billy had just finished force-feeding a sick penguin when Inez Branko approached him.

"How's Mr. Paddles?" she asked, grinning a little.

"I'd say in a few more days he'll be up and about with the rest of his penguiny pals," Billy said, moving to wash his hands and shrugging off his lab coat. She smiled again and hung her coat next to his.

"Idith told me about your accident the other day," she said conversationally. "I hope you didn't hurt yourself."

"I think it was more my ego that was hurt," Billy said. She laughed at that, and settled herself comfortably into one of the chairs next to him.

"So…," she said after a moment of silence, "you and my sister, huh?"

"Umm…well it's not really…I mean, we're not…," Billy trailed off, wondering how exactly to define his relationship with Idith Branko. Luckily Inez seemed to understand, since she laughed again and said, "Do you want to get some lunch? We can talk."

-x-

"I am clearly suffering from crazy," Charlie said, flopping onto Lysander's couch.

"That's not new," Gabriel said, tugging his long sleeved t-shirt and hoping no one noticed his tell-tale tattoo bandage, which had mostly stopped hurting.

"I made the woman I love cheat on her boyfriend, who happens to be one of my best friends!" Charlie nearly shouted. There was a silence.

"That's a problem," Billy said.

"Wait…you and Naren…," Gabriel trailed off.

"Yeah," Charlie said. At his friends' glances he said, "Well, what do you want me to say? That it was amazing? That I'd do it again? Cause I just said it."

"Hang on," Lysander said, shaking his head as though clearing it, "You mean you and Naren…" He raised his eyebrows pointedly.

"Well, not _that_," Charlie amended, running a distracted hand though his hair, "but we could have… _I_ could have, and we almost did."

"So…what happened?" Billy asked in the silence that followed Charlie's statement.

"She stopped it," Charlie said. "She said she couldn't do that to Ben, that _we _shouldn't do that to Ben, and she's totally right. I mean, Ben's one of my best mates! Always has been! It's just…with Naren, I kinda…lose it, you know? And I just keep thinking that I would've done it if she hadn't told me to stop." He sat up then and shook his head. "Anyway, it's over. I can't…I can't _ever _lose it like that again. And you guys have to _promise_ not to tell anyone."

"We promise," Billy said, giving Lysander and Gabriel a look across the room. He couldn't imagine going through what Charlie was facing. He could barely handle normal romance.

-x-

"Wait, Charlie did _what_?" Asa said, nearly falling off his chair. He'd run into Gabriel while picking up coffee for Emma on the way home from work, and Gabriel had inadvertently let Charlie's secret slip.

"He says it's over, that Naren felt way too guilty, and that they can't do something like that to Ben," Gabriel said, hoping that no one who knew them was around, or that Ben wouldn't come popping out of a restroom or something.

"It sounds like they're playing with fire if you ask me," Asa said, "but everyone knew Naren and Ben should never have started dating in the first place. Some stones are better left unturned." He looked as if he was about to say something else, but he suddenly leaned forward, focusing on Gabriel's arm. Gabriel realized (with a sinking feeling) he'd forgotten to wear a long sleeved shirt.

"Gabe, what's that on your arm?" Asa blinked. "It looks like a tattoo."

"Umm…I hurt myself…running," Gabriel said, wishing desperately that he wasn't such a terrible liar.

"You hate running," Asa said matter-of-factly. He gave Gabriel a long stare until Gabriel felt the entire story come flooding out.

"So I was with Dagbert trying to find Dorcas, but people don't take me seriously, so we had to get me clothes only I can't wear vintage so I got new ones but Dagbert said I still looked dumb and then he suggested a tattoo and I said no and then Tony the tattoo guy gave Dagbert a two for one discount and he got one of this fierce starfish but I said starfish aren't fierce which made him mad and he said like gerbils are fierce and I said I wouldn't get a tattoo of a gerbil if I got a tattoo and Dagbert said oh yeah prove it and I kinda did."

Asa considered this. "Oh. So can I see it?"

-x-

Naren felt sick.

Not sick in an I-need-medicine-take-this-and-you-will-feel-better kind of way, but sick in an I-just-cheated-on-my-boyfriend-with-my-best-friend-and-now-I-think-I'm-in-love-with-my-best-friend kind of way. With that kind of sickness there wasn't really any kind of medicine she could take or any way to fix it. The way Naren saw the situation, she had three options:

She could break up with Ben.

He would want to know why, and she might have to lie (since telling the truth would be painful, and she wasn't sure she could actually look him in the face and tell him she made out with one of his best friends) and then at least she would have it off her conscience. But it wasn't like she could just go and date Charlie, because _everyone _knew that dating a best friend's girlfriend is off limits. Then again, it might be easier than having the guilt eat away at her from the inside out, the way it did every time she walked by a photo of Ben or something he gave her (she finally had to turn all the pictures to the wall since she couldn't stand the judgmental eyes).

She could stay with Ben.

She didn't _really_ want to stay with him, but at least it was a way to show him that she was a good girlfriend, instead of the type that nearly slept with his best friend when he was at a dog convention. Nevermind that it was a lie.

She could move in with Una, who was living somewhere in Africa studying lions.

After thinking over the possibilities, Naren began to think that the third option was sounding more and more like a good idea.

-x-

"Manfred?" Zelda called into the quiet apartment. "Are you here?" When there was no answer she sighed and turned to leave, calling over her shoulder "I am leaving, and I am taking this delicious chocolate cappuccino with me! Mmmm, I'm sure glad I got extra _whipped cream_ and _chocolate sprinkles_. Too bad _Manfred_ isn't here to drink this!"

She'd barely taken another step when Manfred suddenly materialized, his dark hair rumpled from sleep and his eyes blinking rapidly as they adjusted to the light. He was still clad in his pajama pants and an old t-shirt. Zelda gave him a disapproving glance.

"Do you even know what time it is?" she asked.

He shook his head, reaching for the coffee and pouting when she held it out of his reach.

"Half-past eleven Manfred," she continued, as though he was paying attention to her instead of the coffee, "It is nearly noon and you aren't even awake!"

"Stayed up late working on the plan," he mumbled, managing to snatch the cup from her hand. Zelda just shook her head, following him back into the apartment.

"Manfred, this plan…," she stopped. The normally spotless (mostly thanks to her) apartment floor was littered with charts and graphs, each one with a different set of figures and numbers. Apparently when Manfred set his mind on something, he didn't do it halfway.

"Umm…," Zelda stuttered. She couldn't actually remember a time she'd been at a loss for words, but when she reached into her brain, she found absolutely nothing.

Manfred came back out of his room, properly dressed, and finding her staring at the papers, suddenly reached out and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Her first instinct was to pull away, because Zelda did _not_ do affectionate (she blamed the shock) and certainly Manfred didn't do affectionate (she blamed it on his tiredness), but his hand felt nice in hers, so she left it for nearly a minute before pulling it from his grasp and saying, "I'm going to be late for work. What time do you need me for _practice_?"

"Right, practice," Manfred said, his face taking on the same tense, squinty look of the previous day. He picked up one of the graphs from the floor and scribbled something down. "You can come whenever you get off work."

Zelda wanted to say something (anything) to take the look off his face, but Manfred didn't look up from his charts, so she just… left.

-x-

Fidelio pulled down the shades of his apartment and carefully inspected the walls. Of course, he'd already checked the entire apartment when he'd moved in, but it didn't hurt to go over it again. He made it a point to check every time he came home or got up in the morning. The last few years had taught him that being cautious made the difference between living and being killed, and Fidelio definitely preferred being alive, especially since he was working with Olivia Vertigo. He felt a grin spreading unbidden across his face. He couldn't deny that he was enjoying working with Olivia again. He'd forgotten what it was like being around her; the flush she got when she was upset and the confidence she had while onstage were mesmerizing. He wondered if his presence was affecting her as much as hers was affecting him. He glanced around the room. It seemed safe.

He went to his closet and retrieved his battered backpack. He had no clue how he'd managed to get it into the country; perhaps only because he was a world class musician. He dumped the contents out on the bed and surveyed the diamonds with satisfaction. More than enough, certainly. At least, he hoped it would be enough. Otherwise he didn't want to think about the consequences.

-x-

Emma hoped that Asa would get back with the coffee soon. Despite her promise to Paton that she would get some rest, she'd barely slept, and she had no idea how she'd managed to make it through work.

A knock at the door had her scrambling off the couch, but when she opened the door, she was surprised to see, instead of her roommate, Tancred Torsson grinning at her.

He was obviously drunk.

"Can I come in?" he asked, barely a hint of a slur in his words. One thing Emma remembered about Tancred was that he wasn't a _messy_ drunk. In fact, even when he was very, very drunk, it was difficult to notice. However, there was often telltale casualness to his stance and he tended to run his hands through his hair until it stood straight up. Tonight, his hair was nearly vertical. She nodded anyway and let him in.

Once inside, he stood in the middle of her living room and Emma was suddenly attacked by nerves. Tancred hadn't actually been inside her apartment since she'd moved in, and she wondered what he thought. She'd always rather liked it, the way the books and records mingled comfortably, but Tancred had always preferred a more sparse and modern look.

"Pike here?" he asked. She shook her head. While Asa and Tancred weren't enemies, they weren't exactly friends. Tancred tended to operate on the mentality that if someone was Manfred's friend once, they were always Manfred's friend, so she figured it was probably better Asa wasn't around.

"Tea?" she asked, when he didn't say anything else.

"No thanks, if you have anything stronger though…" he said, grinning at her again.

"Umm, I think we have some wine or something," Emma said. She moved toward the kitchen, and Tancred perched on a chair, watching her intently. His scrutiny made her blush, and she nearly poured him olive oil instead of wine.

When she handed him his glass, Tancred pulled her into the chair next to him. "Okay, so here's the deal," he said, seriously, although a smile continued to play around his mouth. "This whole 'cold turkey' thing is completely awful. I didn't really think it would be so hard."

Emma sighed. She'd actually _thought_ for a minute that Tancred had actually come to see her because he wanted to, not because he just needed her help. "Tancred, this really isn't a good time," she started, "My aunt's in the hospital, and-,"

"Julia's in the hospital!" Tancred said, his eyes widening.

"Yeah," Emma said, glad for his sympathetic reaction.

"That's awful," Tancred said, shaking his head. "But what I was going to say is that all this lack of hook ups made me realize that I really miss what we had together, you know. It was really something special."

Emma froze. As many times as she'd imagined this scenario, she'd never thought it would actually happen. It felt somehow…different than she'd imagined it would. She'd always thought there would be this feeling like champagne bubbles in her chest, instead of a slightly panicked, almost awkward feeling, but she guessed it was just because she'd never experienced it before.

When Tancred leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, Emma told herself that this was exactly what she'd been wanting since she and Tancred broke up. And if it was a little wet, and tasted mostly like alcohol, it was familiar, and in her exhausted state, Emma found herself grabbing for the familiar, even if the familiar wasn't as spectacular as she'd thought. But Emma reasoned that this was real life, and reality is rarely as pleasant as fantasy. So when Tancred accidentally stepped on her foot when he scooted closer, and if she couldn't really breathe because his nose was smushed against hers, it was just because nothing was perfect. Suddenly, Emma heard the door slam. She jerked away from Tancred, nearly spilling wine on her skirt.

Asa stood in the doorway, holding his keys and two steaming cups of coffee. For an interminable moment his eyes locked with Emma's, and then they flickered briefly to Tancred before he turned and walked back out the door, shutting it behind him with a soft click.

-x-

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

So…an update (sidles in sheepishly) coming mostly because I am sick and am sitting in bed with nothing to do…if it is any consolation, I have a lot of the next chapter written, and it should be up pretty soon!

Disclaimer: Charlie Bone and all affiliated characters and terms belong to Jenny Nimmo

* * *

_**Chapter 7**__: In which Billy thinks about cake, Olivia's Zone is interrupted, Ben finds out, Zelda worries, Emma dates, Gabriel buys a guitar and gets a second chance, Fidelio hides, and there is a misunderstanding_

-x-

Billy decided he was getting better at the whole flirting thing. It definitely helped having Inez on his side. The two of them had eaten lunch together, and she had given him many helpful details about her sister.

"Why are you helping me?" he'd asked at one point during the lunch. "Most people are not usually this eager to set up their sisters."

She'd just laughed. "My sister always says I have the matchmaking genes in the family. When she mentioned you, I knew you two would be perfect…plus working with my sister's boyfriend means I could score free lunches."

Even after the "Greenhouse Incident" as Billy labelled their previous encounter, he and Idith were definitely moving toward _something_. When she dropped by during his lunch hour, he casually made an excuse to show her the pandas (Although really, he didn't think anyone _needed _an excuse to see pandas).

"So one of my friends is having a birthday tomorrow night," Idith remarked, leaning her arms on the railing and staring out at the pandas.

"Parties are always good," Billy said, "Especially the ones with cake. I personally, am a fan of cake. Chocolate cake, yellow cake, carrot cake, Funfetti cake…basically all cakes are welcome at Chez Billy."

She grinned. "There may be cake at this party you know…"

He gave her a sideways glance. "Are you trying to bribe me?"

"Maybe," she said, tilting her head to the side. "Is it working?"

"Oh I would say definitely." Billy said, thinking that people tended to overcomplicate romance sometimes. When cake was involved, everything was simpler.

-x-

Olivia was not fond of interruption during rehearsals. When she was in rehearsal, she was in the _zone _and those who interrupted the _zone _were subject to her wrath.

That was why when the theatre doors banged open in the middle of one of the most pivotal scenes, she whirled around in her seat, ready for a fight. However, at the sight of two unfamiliar men in dark suits, her angry words abruptly died and she just stared awkwardly.

_Please don't let me be behind on my rent,_ she thought.

Outwardly, she smiled the smile that had won her the lead role throughout school and said, "Can I help you gentlemen?"

One of the men gave her a winning smile, a direct contrast to his companion, who was scowling rather viciously. "We're actually looking for Fidelio Gunn. We're some friends of his from Vienna…" he trailed off, looking around the theatre. Olivia's eyes darted automatically to the orchestra pit, but to her surprise, Fidelio's recognizable mop of hair was nowhere to be seen.

"Mr. Gunn is regrettably absent at the moment," she said, "I'll tell him you dropped by then, if you'll just leave your names…"

"That won't be necessary," the smiling man said quickly, "We'll just take a look around ourselves Miss…?"

"Vertigo," she said coolly, "And I'd appreciate it if you just came back another time. As you can see, we are in the middle of a rehearsal, and we _are_ opening in a few weeks."

"I'm afraid this is important," the man said, his smile dissolving, and Olivia was suddenly aware that despite his outward friendliness, he was very _very _serious about finding Fidelio. _Right then_, she thought.

She slowly picked up her script and stood to face him. "Sir, this _show_ is important. You have unfortunately interrupted us at a very critical moment, and despite polite hints to the contrary, have refused to leave. If you do not leave this theatre immediately, I will be forced to call the police." She watched the man glance at his scowling companion, then back to her.

His smile suddenly returned. "Of course Miss Vertigo, we absolutely apologize. Just let Mr. Gunn know that his friends from Vienna are interested in seeing him." She gave a tight nod, and the men turned to go, banging the door behind them.

Once they were gone, Olivia glanced onstage to where the actors were openly gawking. She sat, flipping open her script. "Right then, let's take it from John's last line." As the actors resumed, she noticed Fidelio still hadn't returned, and wondered what was so important that he had to hide.

-x-

Naren ran her hand absentmindedly over a collection of brightly coloured tiles, barely registering their design. She'd come to the arts and crafts store to pick up some new materials for a new shadowbox, but like everything else in her life lately, she couldn't seem to focus on the task in front of her.

"Hey, I thought I might find you here," Ben's voice startled her out of her musings, and she nearly dropped the supplies she'd already collected.

"Ben! I didn't think you were back yet!" she said brightly. Her voice, which she'd hoped would sound cheerful, instead sounded surprised and _guilty, _which was not a good tone for a girlfriend welcoming home her boyfriend.

"I brought the puppies," he said, ignoring her. "I found all these great new training exercises at the convention and I'm really psyched to try them out. There's this one where you create a bridge out of trashcans and a 2x4 and-"

"I kissed Charlie," Naren interrupted, the words spilling out before she had time to think.

"What?" Ben said, the smile sliding slowly off his face and his expression edging toward shock.

"Um," Naren said, "I kissed Charlie." When Ben didn't say anything else, she asked "Are you mad?" Ben's expression had morphed from shock to something else, and Naren realized with some surprise that she couldn't read him at all.

"Mad?" Ben echoed. "No…not mad. I'm…surprised. Disappointed. I thought you wanted to be with me; you _told _me you wanted to be with me, that it was what you wanted." His voice began to gain volume, and Naren realized people were starting to stare. _Why couldn't I have waited until we were home, _she thought. Ben shook his head. "I was so sure that we were going to make it. Like, in a long-term way, you know, actually, I AM mad. I can't even…" He paused, staring at her, and Naren found she couldn't meet his eyes, so she just stared down at the decorative tiles. "I need to go." He turned and walked out of the store, leaving Naren to wonder what, exactly, she'd just done.

-x-

Zelda turned around three times on the way to Manfred's apartment, and it wasn't until she'd bought a second cup of coffee and a scone that she managed to make it all the way to his front door.

Zelda was not an apprehensive person. Once she decided on a course of action, she followed it; no hesitations. However, after her last visit to the apartment, she was beginning to feel as though her decision to cooperate with Manfred's plan had not been the wisest choice. It seemed that the more she tried to help, the more unstable he became. His moods swung from excited to angry in seconds, and Zelda wasn't sure if she liked the new, unpredictable Manfred. Before, he'd been weird, but it had always been an easily predicted weirdness, and his moods could often be fixed with Chinese takeaway or a cup of coffee.

When she poked her head into the apartment and saw him hunched over the table, eyes red-rimmed, and hair sticking up in every direction, Zelda knew that this project was something that wouldn't be cured simply with takeaway. She recognized the signs of obsession, and also recognized it was time for an intervention. Decision made, she closed the door softly behind her and went to find Josh.

-x-

It had been nearly forty-eight hours and Asa still hadn't come back. Emma called Paton a couple times to check on Aunt Julia, but he didn't pick up, and the silence in the apartment became so overwhelming that she turned on the noisiest music she could find before curling up in her room and listening for Asa's key in the lock.

When Tancred called that night to ask her to dinner, she wondered why, if this was what she wanted, she felt oddly hollow. Still, she found herself slipping into a dress and meeting him downtown for dinner. During dinner, she and Tancred talked about their jobs, the weather, traffic conditions (a conversation that fizzled after a few remarks since Emma rarely drove).

She excused herself before the main course came and was somewhat surprised at her face in the bathroom mirror. Although there were times when she wished her hair was different (darker) or her body changed (taller), Emma was usually comfortable with herself. Tonight though, she barely recognized herself. She had enormous shadows under her eyes, and her skin looked translucent. She attempted to fix what she could with makeup before heading back to the table, hoping that the conversation would keep going, and she wouldn't drink too much.

Tancred was finishing a phone call as she arrived, and Emma wondered why he hadn't taken it outside, but the call was forgotten with dinner.

Afterward, she asked Tancred to drop her off at the hospital. He'd been puzzled, ("why do you want to just sit there? Your aunt isn't going to know if you're there or not.") but had complied, waving as he left her at the entrance. She navigated the hospital corridors easily and ran into Paton Yewbeam a few feet from Aunt Julia's door.

"Emma!" Paton said happily. "I am so glad the hospital finally contacted you! Julia's been asking about you."

"She's awake?" Emma asked, a weight lifting off her chest. Asa had left, but at least her aunt was alright.

"She woke up a few hours ago. You can go in if you like." He gestured to the door. "I'm just slipping out to get her some flowers. She can't speak very well yet, but the doctors said they aren't anticipating any complications, so her motor skills and speech should return fully, although it will be a slow process." He smiled at her and headed down the corridor.

The door to Aunt Julia's room was slightly ajar and Emma heard low voices coming from inside. Peeking in, she could see her aunt sitting up in bed, and a familiar red-head in the chair next to the bed. _Asa_. Had he been at the hospital the whole time? Had he known her aunt had been awake?

"Aunt Julia?" she asked instead, choosing to focus on something she could understand.

-x-

Charlie normally hated running. He'd never really been the most physically fit of his friends, and while he enjoyed other sports, he never saw the point of running for fun. However, after talking with his friends, he found himself sliding on his practically new running shoes and heading to the park. The rhythmic pounding of his feet on the pavement was oddly soothing, even if the rhythm did start to sound like Naren's name. His stride was interrupted by someone calling his name. Slowing down, Charlie noticed Ben waving at him. He waved back and jogged over. Although Ben was probably the last person in the world Charlie wanted to see, he was still Charlie's friend, and Charlie knew he couldn't just ignore him forever, as much as he wished he could.

"Hey Ben," Charlie said nervously, hoping he didn't look guilty or jittery, especially when every part of him wanted to yell "I kissed your girlfriend! I am guilty!"

"Hey Charlie," Ben said, smiling easily and falling into step next to him. By contrast, Ben looked calm, almost serene. He was also dressed in running clothes, but was curiously without a dog.

"So, when did you get back?" Charlie asked when Ben didn't say anything else.

"About an hour ago," Ben said, shrugging and keeping his eyes on the path in front of them. "I've just been hanging out awhile. I've been hoping to run into you actually."

"Why-," Charlie started, but found he couldn't say anything else since Ben suddenly reached forward and punched him in the face.

-x-

Gabriel Silk was not a man generally known for his musical taste. In fact, in the years Lysander had known him, Gabriel had stubbornly refused to adjust his taste, despite Asa's attempts to introduce him to what Asa referred to as "decent human music." Gabriel listened to composers like Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Debussy the way most people listened to Eric Clapton or Bon Jovi, and the entire group had eventually just stopped trying to convince him to listen to anything else.

When Lysander went to visit Gabriel, he knew immediately that something was seriously wrong, since the stereo was blasting _Layla_, and Lysander knew that Gabriel didn't even own a Derek and the Dominos album.

"Gabriel?" he called into the apartment, curiously examining the piles of paper strewn over the various surfaces, "What are you doing?"

"Learning to play the guitar," Gabriel called from the living room, where he was bent over a tab sheet. "Everyone knows that guys with guitars seem more attractive and cool… so I bought a guitar."

"You bought a guitar?" Lysander repeated, wondering when, exactly, all of his friends had gone completely crazy, and if he had somehow missed the memo.

Gabriel nodded. "1962 Reissue Fender Stratocaster. I was just walking by the store, and I saw it, walked in, and bought it." He picked it up, grinning. "I got all the way back to the apartment before I actually realized that I have no idea how to even play the guitar." He shook his head slowly, setting the guitar gingerly down on the couch. "I'm not really sure what's wrong with me."

"So you still haven't seen her," Lysander said, settling down next to the abandoned guitar.

Gabriel shrugged. "This isn't about Dorcas." At Lysander's disbelieving stare, he elaborated, "Well, it's a little about Dorcas, but I think it's kinda about me too. I mean…I always thought I was fine, that my life was good, which it _was_…but lately I've been thinking that when I look back on my life so far, there's all this stuff out there that I always wanted to do, and I've never done any of it. So, I figured why not now? Why not try that stuff?"

Lysander grinned. "I heard about the tattoo."

"Did Asa tell you?" Gabriel asked. At Lysander's nod, Gabriel gave a longsuffering sigh. "I knew he wouldn't be able to keep it to himself." He rolled up his sleeve and Lysander gave an appreciative whistle at the artwork.

"What about you?" Gabriel asked, carefully pulling down his sleeve and getting up to turn down the stereo. "How are the wedding plans going?"

Lysander shook his head. "I don't really want to talk about the wedding right now." He and Olivia had decided to postpone the wedding by a few weeks (although Olivia hadn't known he'd put a later date on the invitations anyway…He'd known she'd never be able to put everything together by the original date she'd picked) and truthfully, he was starting to get a little worried. He'd never questioned Olivia's fidelity; he'd just assumed she loved him as much as he loved her. Lately though, she'd started to act strangely around him. She was always a little high strung, but during the past few days she'd barely looked him in the eye…and then there was the matter of Fidelio.

Lysander wasn't stupid. He saw the way Fidelio looked at Olivia, and worse, he'd seen the way she'd looked back. He wasn't sure of the depth of her feeling for the musician, or even if the feeling was genuine, but the fact that it was there at all made him feel somehow inadequate. He'd always been the steady one; the person who never caused problems and who could always be counted on to help if someone was in trouble. For once, Lysander wanted to be allowed to keep his happiness instead of giving it up to help someone else.

Gabriel, sensing an internal battle, decided to make a fresh pot of tea.

-x-

Olivia found Fidelio in the props closet.

"You know, it's hard to rehearse a musical number when the music director is missing," she remarked, replacing a few hats on the shelf and crossing her arms.

He blushed, emerging slowly from the closet. "Sorry about that."

"I sent everyone home," Olivia offered in the silence that followed.

"Good…that's…good," Fidelio said distractedly, pulling his violin case out of the closet and attempting to slide past Olivia.

"Not so fast," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "Who were those guys today, and what did they want?" When he didn't say anything, she stepped in front of him, placing her hands on his shoulders. "I think I'm entitled to know, I mean, I am giving you a job."

He sighed. "Liv, seriously, you don't need to know this."

"So I just, what? Lie to creepy dudes about your whereabouts? Automatically trust you after not hearing from you in years?" Olivia could hear her own voice getting louder and was grateful that they were the only ones in the theatre.

Fidelio stepped away from her, sliding her hands off his shoulders. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Well tough. I'm not going to do that," she said, and watched him freeze. Then he whirled around, grabbing her wrist tightly.

"Olivia, _please_," he said, meeting her eyes with that serious look, and she had just a minute to think _oh no…_ before his mouth was on hers and she somehow found herself leaning against the wall of the props closet with her fingers curled in the lapels of his jacket. Dimly, she knew that he couldn't just kiss her when she really wanted an explanation, but she figured she'd sort that out in a minute. _In just a minute. _

-x-

"Why didn't you call me?" Emma demanded as she and Asa made their way across the parking lot. "She's _my _aunt, not yours! I think I'm entitled to know when she wakes up. Didn't you think she'd want to see me?" After spending an hour with Aunt Julia, and Asa sitting right there, Emma was ready for a fight.

Asa shook his head. "I tried to call you. Your phone was off. I even went to that restaurant, but they said you were already gone. I even tried calling Torsson, but he hung up on me. I figured having one of us here was better than nobody."

Belatedly, Emma remembered Tancred hanging up his phone. Had he known and just not told her?

"Before," she said, more quietly, "where did you go?"

He shrugged. "Changed. I just couldn't…" He broke off. "We should go home."

-x-

It was with a sense of deja-vu that Gabriel found himself outside the coffee shop where Dagbert worked. He honestly hadn't planned on coming back (ever), but he'd grown bored in his apartment, and none of his friends had been home. He'd thrown on some of his new clothes and had set out to wander the city, but somehow found himself downtown.

"You again?" Dagbert's voice interrupted Gabriel's musings. Gabriel turned to see the younger boy standing outside the café, holding a book of poetry.

Gabriel shrugged.

"We haven't seen her," Dagbert said, crossing his arms. He turned to go inside, and then appeared to think better of it. "Listen… I kinda admire your devotion to your lady. It's really poetic, you know." He shuffled his feet for a few seconds, then mumbled, "If you want to read a poem tonight, it's okay."

Gabriel goggled at him. "Really?"

Dagbert grinned. "Just no gerbils alright? I actually have some material here that might work…" Gabriel allowed himself to be pulled into the coffee shop, and, humming _Layla_ under his breath, pushed up his sleeve. If he was going to do this again, he might as well do it right.

-x-

* * *

Okay, so this chapter is mostly filler and set-up for the next chapter, but I promise there is serious action coming up soon… Reviews are always welcome!


	8. Chapter 8

Yeah! Update! I know right…amazing! To be fair, I have had the next chapters kinda mostly planned for awhile, so hopefully updates will be closer than a month apart, since I actually have time now (I say that a lot, but I actually have people encouraging me…).

Disclaimer: Charlie Bone and all affiliated characters and terms belong to Jenny Nimmo

A/N: this chapter takes place a few days after the events of the last one

* * *

_**Chapter Eight**__: In which most everyone makes a huge mistake or just falls apart_

-x-

Tancred stirred another packet of sugar into his coffee. Normally he drank his coffee black, one sugar, but lately he'd been adding more and more sugar, as though sweetness would make up for the ongoing lack of female companionship. He gazed longingly over at the attractive barista.

_Stupid Manfred,_ He thought, grimacing as he took a sip. This bet was killing him, although he'd forgotten the surprisingly nice feeling of having Emma Tolly back in his life. Not that there was any real _attraction_ there, but it was…comforting, he supposed, to have someone to take care of things in his life. She was always willing to bring him coffee (and never forgot how he liked it) and she dropped off his dry-cleaning without him even asking. Tancred could see how a man might settle down with a girl like Emma. He flipped open his phone and decided to invite her to dinner. It was a little last minute, but he was sure she could work it out.

-x-

Manfred wasn't exactly sure when his life had begun spiralling out of control, but he suspected it had begun when he'd started noticing the shape of Zelda's legs in her sky-high stilettos.

Things had been easy before; she'd just been Zelda, his grumpy, occasionally attractive friend who cleaned his apartment and made the best coffee he'd ever tasted. Now suddenly, she was _Zelda, _and he couldn't stop watching the way her dark fell between her narrow shoulder blades or the graceful arc of her neck when she was reading.

It was unhealthy, Manfred told himself, especially when she obviously didn't feel the same way. Zelda didn't do relationships, and apart from a few nights out with a few sleek, high-powered corporate types, didn't even really do dates. Manfred had no delusions about their relationship; he was a video game designer who basically lived off Chinese takeaway and coffee and, until six months ago, hadn't even owned an iron.

When that stupid bet had come along and like an idiot, he'd suggested she practice with _Josh_ to seduce Torsson, he hadn't counted on the anger that would surface just by seeing her with Josh. He'd always prided himself on being in control of his emotions, instead able to use the emotions of others to his advantage. He wasn't sure what to do when it was his own feelings in jeopardy. So he'd thrown himself into calculations, into graphs and charts and numbers. There was certainty in numbers, Manfred knew, and as long as the math was right, the answer was always the same. As long as he could focus on that certainty, that sameness, he could forget that sometimes Zelda smelled like citrus, or that she sometimes forgot her makeup in the morning when she stopped by, and she looked so pretty he'd forget to breathe.

Disgusted with himself, Manfred picked up Josh's abandoned copy of The Great Gatsby. He found himself actually sympathizing with F. Scott Fitzgerald. At least Fitzgerald got to marry his Zelda.

-x-

Naren decided that she was officially never leaving her apartment again.

The way she saw things, there really wasn't any up-side to her situation. In a single stupid moment she'd managed to ruin her relationship with Charlie while simultaneously destroying Charlie and Ben's friendship. She couldn't talk to Charlie without hurting Ben further, and she couldn't talk to Ben because he hated her. She'd realized that normally when she had a problem, Charlie would be the first person she'd call, but since obviously _that _was out of the question, she'd tried to phone Olivia, who hadn't been home, and then Emma, who'd sounded so tense that Naren hadn't even told her anything.

Finally, after giving the matter careful thought, she'd curled up in bed and dialled one final number.

-x-

The party was a lot noisier and louder than Billy expected…and darker. He squinted, trying to make out the shapes in the dim light, and wished he'd worn his better glasses. He'd decided to go with the thicker frames in hopes that it would make him look cooler, but he was already regretting his choice. He had to admit, he preferred pub night. He was so busy trying to recognize people, he nearly had a heart attack when someone grabbed his hand.

"Billy!" Idith shouted over the din. He grinned at her, the flashing coloured lights momentarily blurring his vision.

"Some party!" he shouted back. "No cake though."

"What?" she shouted back, bouncing a little to the sounds of _Video Killed the Radio Star _that was blaring from the speakers. "Let's dance!" Billy allowed her to grab his hand and lead him to the dance floor.

Five eighties anthems later and Billy decided he was officially having the time of his life. The music was fantastic (He'd always been a sucker for some well-played David Bowie) and Idith looked happy, flushed and smiling in her glittery party dress. Billy grabbed her hand, spinning her around and dipping her dramatically.

They stayed that way for a moment after the song ended, her wide blue eyes staring into his. On impulse, Billy leaned down and pressed his lips against hers in a quick kiss before pulling her to her feet.

To his surprise, she shoved him back, so hard he nearly stumbled into a guy wearing a yellow suit. Her eyes filled with confusion and she blinked at him in the flashing light. "Billy?" Up close, he suddenly noticed that her hair was shorter than it had previously appeared and there was a distinct lack of freckles on her face. She was also wearing the "Save the Penguins" button the zoo had given them the week before. He suddenly had a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Inez?" he shouted, wiping his mouth and staring at the girl with dawning horror.

"Billy?" she repeated, looking equally confused and equally horrified.

"I am _so_ sorry!" he said quickly, "I thought…I thought you were your sister. I mean, it's really dark in here…and-," he broke off, looking around.

"It's okay," she said, shrugging and giving him an uneasy smile. "It was just weird…I mean…"

"Yeah." He echoed. They were silent for a moment, and Billy wondered how they looked; the only two people on the dance floor _not_ dancing. Finally he asked "Where's your sister?"

"She was talking to some friends a little while ago, but I haven't seen her, I mean, she's probably looking for you…" Inez looked around and Billy scoured the crowd as best he could.

"Oh no," Inez suddenly said, pointing up, and Billy felt his stomach sink. Idith was standing at the railing above them. Her face was utterly expressionless. She stared at the two of them for a few seconds before vanishing into the crowd.

"You think she saw?" Billy asked, a little unnecessarily.

"I'll talk to her, I'll tell her that it was a mistake…you didn't mean it," Inez said quickly, patting his arm, "We'll make it okay." She disappeared off the dance floor, leaving Billy alone.

Billy watched her go and wondered, if it really was going to be okay, why he felt like he'd swallowed a lead weight. He glanced over at the DJ booth and wondered if he should request _Love is a Battlefield. _Given his current circumstances, it seemed appropriate.

-x-

Gabriel found Charlie huddled on his couch, holding a bag of frozen peas over one eye and watching reruns of Hollyoaks.

He looked around at the various wrappers scattered around the couch. "Did you really eat four packages of Shortbread biscuits?"

Charlie nodded in grim satisfaction. "I also ate three Cadbury bars and two jars of Nutella."

Gabriel sighed. It was rare that Charlie fell apart, but when he did, he never went halfway. To Gabriel's knowledge, the last time this happened was when Charlie's pet rabbit died. After Cuddles' funeral Charlie had refused to leave his bed and hadn't wanted to eat anything but carrots and chocolate Easter eggs for four days.

Gabriel suspected that losing the girl of his dreams was probably somewhat more significant than a dead rabbit.

"Charlie," he said patiently, "You have to get up. You have a job you know, and Pub night is tonight, and you promised to come to my poetry reading tomorrow."

"Leave me alone!" Charlie wailed. "One of my best friends hates me and the girl I love won't talk to me. I just want to sit here and get fat."

Gabriel considered this. "I'll let you see my tattoo…"

Charlie raised an eyebrow, looking marginally more interested. "Asa said it was really fierce."

-x-

Joshua blinked rapidly, his eyes struggling to adjust to the sudden darkness of the closet. He'd been walking by when Zelda had yanked him inside and he now found himself inches away from her. His heart started hammering, and he felt like he imagined a bird must feel after being caught by a cat. _I'm too young!_ his mind shouted, and he wondered if Zelda could actually run in her heels if he tried to make an escape.

"I'm worried about Manfred."

Joshua blinked again. He hadn't expected that. He'd expected…well, he hadn't really known what to expect. "Why?" he managed.

"Because he's taken this challenge thing with Torsson way too far. Normally when he obsesses, it's about normal things, like work or something, but now, it's like he doesn't even act like himself. He just sits around and plots, and makes graphs and pie-charts, and I can't even _talk_ to him anymore, and so I was hoping that maybe you could talk to him or something. I thought going along with this whole seductress act would help, but it just seems to have made things worse," she said, and Joshua realized that Zelda actually looked _desperate_, her hair dishevelled and her eyeliner the tiniest bit smudged. It was as though someone had suddenly turned on a light bulb.

"You _like_ him," he said, unable to keep the surprise from his voice.

"Of course," Zelda said simply. "Why do you think I hang around so much?"

"I…I thought-," Joshua stammered awkwardly.

Zelda seemed to understand, because she gave a soft chuckle and said, "What? That I liked you? Sorry Josh, but really, you and me? You can't be serious."

Joshua could hardly contain the sigh of relief that threatened to escape. He wouldn't have to spend time figuring out how to skulk around without Zelda catching him. He shrugged, even though he knew she probably couldn't see it in the dark. "Yeah, it is a bit ridiculous," he agreed. "I'll talk to Manfred."

-x-

Lysander took a slow sip of tea, looking around the coffee shop. "So what did you do after that?"

"I cleaned a little while Charlie got ready, and I made him go to the park." Gabriel was feeling pretty good. He'd mastered the B flat chord that morning, and had moved on to conquering A Blues Traveler song. "He seemed okay. A little dazed maybe, but okay. I think he's probably just waiting for Naren."

Lysander nodded then focused back on Gabriel. "I think Olivia is cheating on me."

Gabriel nearly sprayed his coffee on his shirt. "What?"

Lysander nodded seriously. "I've been thinking about it a lot, and it makes sense."

"B-but, she _loves_ you," Gabriel stammered. He'd always assumed that Lysander and Olivia had the kind of relationship he would want for himself. It felt a little like learning Santa Claus wasn't real (hypothetically, of course).

"I know," Lysander said wearily, "That's what makes it hard."

"So, what are you going to do?" he finally asked.

Lysander shrugged. "I don't know. Talk to her I guess. I just always thought…I don't know…" He trailed off. "Listen Gabe, I'm sorry I brought this up. Just forget it." He stood up and left the shop and Gabriel suddenly thought that he'd always felt Lysander looked extremely dignified for being twenty-five, but this was the first time he'd ever looked _old_.

-x-

"Thanks again for coming and listening to this," Naren said, digging her spoon back into the carton of rocky road ice-cream. "I feel like I just need an objective listener to offer advice sometimes."

"Hey, it's okay," Dagbert said, patting her awkwardly on the back. "What are artist support groups for, if not to support you in times of emotional turmoil?" He paused, and then added under his breath, "It's not as if any of us has anything better to do anyway."

"The thing is," Naren continued, "I knew it would all blow up in my face from the beginning, but I did it anyway; and now I don't know whether I should call Charlie or Ben or whether I should just leave the country."

"I can understand," another voice piped up from the corner. "Maybe it was because you were scared of committing fully to a relationship, and because you didn't really think it would last anyway you justified your actions and now you're running away but secretly blaming yourself and wondering if you made a huge mistake and if you should go back because this guy may have been the best decision you'd ever make but when you see him he seems so much happier without you and so you just keep hiding and making yourself miserable."

Dagbert narrowed his eyes. "I think we _were_ talking about Naren here, but we can focus on you next if you want Dorcas, because if I may say so, you are pretty much the Peter Parker of unresolved issues."

The girl flushed, taking another bite of her ice-cream. "Sorry, I just got distracted." She turned back to Naren. "You were saying…?"

"I don't know what to do!" Naren wailed, dropping her head into her hands.

Sighing, Dagbert reached over and stole her ice-cream carton. "I really should go into a career as a self-help writer. You," he said, pointing at Naren, "are going to track down Ben _and _Charlie and talk to them once you figure out what you want. Tell it to them straight. And you," he waved the spoon at Dorcas, "Get it together. Find gerbil boy or whatever and _both _of you stop mooning. Control your destinies! And," he looked down, "we're all out of ice-cream."

-x-

_I am probably going to special Hell for bad fiancées_, Olivia thought as she leaned back against the stage in order to get a better grasp on Fidelio's sweater. Since the night in the props closet, she had realized that where Fidelio Gunn was concerned, she seemed to completely lose her grasp on normality, self-control, and sanity in general.

Which probably explained why this was the fourth time they'd made out in the theatre.

Olivia had always loved the thrill of danger. She loved scary movies, rollercoasters, and anything adventurous, which was why kissing Fidelio was becoming so incredibly intoxicating. Every time he looked at her, the corners of his mouth would curl up and she'd think of secrets and locked rooms and it was always the thought of danger that led to…whatever it was they had. When they weren't kissing, Fidelio would tell her about travelling, and his stories made her long to see Vienna, Paris, Barcelona; places where excitement happened and people could be whoever they wanted. He awoke her sense of adventure, and it was the thrill that made her feel invincible, that led them to more public places. It made Olivia forget that currently, they were in front of the stage, in plain view of anyone who came in the front door.

Now, she giggled as Fidelio brushed his lips across her ear. "You've really been to Prague?" she asked breathily, trying to steer their conversation back to where it had been before she'd gotten…distracted.

"Three times," he said, laughing a little himself. "It was beautiful, although I preferred spring to winter." He paused, and then added, "You'll have to see it sometime with me."

Olivia felt a smile creep across her face. "And leave this theatre? What would they do without me?" She saw his face momentarily grow serious, and she knew that he understood her tacit reference to the rule; the unspoken rule that whatever they had, it couldn't be serious.

Then he smiled and leaned in to kiss her again, and she'd just begun to respond when they were interrupted by the door of the theatre.

"Olivia?"

-x-

Emma hadn't spoken to Asa since their conversation in the parking lot, and he seemed to be doing his best to ignore her as well. At first she'd thought that the silence had been deafening, but as time passed, it began to crackle with words unsaid, and it felt as though something could snap at any moment.

When her phone rang, she nearly knocked a stack of plates off the counter, but it was only Tancred calling to ask her to dinner. She decided to take a shower beforehand, and the hot water calmed her a little (she figured Asa must have finally paid the water bill).

Emma had almost convinced herself everything was all right when she heard a knock on her door and it set her heart racing again. She took a slow breath, wrapping the towel more securely around herself and opened the door.

Asa stood in the doorway, hands shoved in his pockets and his eyes on the floor. "I…made you some soup, if you want it. It's on the stove."

"Tancred called, actually, and asked me to dinner, and…I'll probably…do…that," she said, feeling uncharacteristically embarrassed, as though going to dinner was something she should be ashamed of.

Asa's eyes suddenly jumped to hers. "You're _still _going out with him? After what happened with your aunt?"

"Why not?" Emma asked tartly, "He probably just didn't want to ruin dinner."

Asa gave a humourless laugh. "Ruin dinner by telling you your aunt woke up from a potentially life-threatening coma? Yeah, I can see that would be a real downer. How _thoughtful._"

"What is your _problem_?" Emma said, her temper beginning to rise, "You've been weird ever since Tancred and I got back together."

"Maybe I don't trust him," Asa said, crossing his arms. When Emma snorted disbelievingly, his tone softened and he said "Look Emma, I…I just don't want you to get hurt again okay? You're my…friend, and it's…important to me."

"You don't trust him? Listen, I don't need you to look after me all the time," Emma shook her head. "I am perfectly capable of running my own life." She'd meant the words to sound breezy and confident; instead, they sounded angry and defensive. Asa took a reflexive step backwards, then suddenly his eyes hardened and he stepped forward again.

"Okay, I am only going to say this one more time, because I think you need to hear it," he said, his eyes locking on hers. "Tancred is _not_ a good guy. I think you are deluding yourself that he cares about you, and I think you are going to get hurt. But it's your decision…so don't call me when everything goes wrong."

When Emma looked back, she wasn't sure if it was something in his confident tone or the intensity of his gaze, but suddenly she was screaming, and he was backing away, and she was following him, letting out everything that had been building up for the past few months. "I can't do this anymore! Stop trying to take care of me! I don't need you to take care of me! You just make me feel so _confused_ all the time. I was _fine_ before you came. Well, not fine," she amended, "but I was getting along, and then you came and messed with everything, and I just..." she faltered, and inexplicably, the anger was gone, and she just felt _tired_. "I just want you to stop." She turned and started to close the door between them, but found it stopped by Asa's hand.

"Wait," he reached out, grabbing her arm, turning her to face him. Her elbow banged against doorjamb, but it didn't seem to matter because suddenly he was kissing her like she was the last bit of oxygen in the room. His fingers were clenching her almost painfully, and it felt like every one of her nerve endings was on fire. Emma found herself stumbling forward to grab at his t-shirt, and she was dimly aware that this was _Asa_, and she probably shouldn't be kissing him so desperately, as though he would disappear if she stopped to breathe. She could feel his hands reach up to tangle in her wet hair, and it should have been awkward, but somehow it wasn't, and Emma found that as kisses went, it easily surpassed phenomenal and fast approached the realm of mind-blowing. Unlike Tancred, Asa didn't taste like alcohol. He just tasted like Asa, and that taste had Emma clinging tighter to him and she wondered if it was possible for a person to spontaneously combust just from kissing.

It was Asa who broke the kiss first, stepping carefully away and inhaling sharply. Emma found that suddenly, she didn't quite have the courage to meet his eyes, so instead, she focused on the carpet.

Neither of them spoke for a long minute.

Emma finally looked up at Asa and saw he was looking at her intently, his hands clenched so tightly that the knuckles were white.

"Umm," she finally said, flushing at the raspy sound of her own voice, "I…"

"I'm not going to apologize, or say it was a mistake, if that's what you're waiting for," Asa said fiercely, and Emma was suddenly reminded that for better or worse, Asa was _dangerous_ and while he would never actually hurt her, there was a kind of determination in his amber eyes that made her unable to think of anything to say.

"But…you…we…I mean, this isn't…" she said helplessly, then, with a glance at his face, "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Because you said it yourself! I'm a wreck, and you deserve better. Torsson can give you everything you've ever wanted, and face it Emma; I'm just a cheap substitute. Do you think I don't know that? It's always been him for you, hasn't it? No matter what I do, no matter how many times I bring you home or buy you books, make you soup or listen to you cry, it's always going to be about him. I told myself after graduation, after all that stuff happened with Manfred that I wasn't going to be a sidekick, anybody's placeholder ever again." He was watching her defiantly, and Emma realized she'd never really had anyone look at her like that, as though she was the most important person in the world.

It scared her; so much that she found herself backing away and stammering "I…I have…to…think," and then she was practically running back into her room and closing the door and everything was eerily silent for a few interminable moments. Then she heard something break, a few muffled movements, and a door slam, and then there was nothing again.

With her back against the door and the taste of him still on her lips, Emma felt something inside her suddenly break; like she was crumbling or coming apart but knitting together at the same time. Her breathing was coming in deep, gasping sobs, but she felt that somehow it was _okay_, that the tears made her feel like herself, in a way she hadn't felt since graduation.

When she opened the door though, he was gone; his blankets from the couch and his records were gone. She chose not to examine her reasons for wearing one of his sweaters the next day (even while talking to Tancred on the phone). But she told herself it was better this way.

Except.

Except she couldn't get that _look_ out of her head. That look he gave her right before she ran away. She'd be washing dishes or answering phones and it would pop into her head, and she would have to hang up or put down the dish because she couldn't focus (or breathe). She made it two days before the epiphany.

-x-

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Reviews are, as always, greeted with much rejoicing.


	9. Chapter 9

So…I'm not dead…yeah. Hopefully there are still some people actually reading this story (and not getting sad when I promise to update sooner and then it doesn't happen…) Anyway…I don't even know what even happened with this chapter…it was like all these characters keep meeting up all randomly and I can't even stop them

Disclaimer: Charlie Bone and all related terms belong to Jenny Nimmo

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_Chapter 9:In which Zelda goes on a reluctant date, Olivia is in mortal peril, an unlikely partnership is formed, Dagbert makes a band, Naren decides what she wants, Asa and Charlie commiserate, Billy is frustrated, and Emma is in the wrong place at the wrong time…twice._

-x-

The way Zelda saw things, there was really only one solution.

Although she'd never told Manfred, she'd once spent a couple of weeks obsessed with one of his early online games. She'd found it while browsing online, and had been pleasantly surprised by the complexities of the characters and settings. Her competitive side had gotten a rush every time she'd beaten anyone, and before she knew it, she was logging on at work so that Princess Adlez could conquer the goblin hordes or cheat elves out of treasure. However, when she'd found herself tempted to debate a particular point of the game's regulations with Manfred, she'd realized the obvious unhealthiness of her obsession and dropped the game. After all, Zelda Dobinski did _not _debate the merits of trolls versus wizards with a video game designer.

Despite having been absent from the game for several years, Zelda did remember that the best way to confront a reluctant opponent was to provoke that opponent into attacking, usually by committing an act so offensive that the opponent had no choice but to retaliate. (She still cringed whenever she remembered that raid on the dwarf citadel.)

That was why after one surprisingly easy phone call, she swept into Manfred's apartment, settled onto the couch and calmly remarked, "So I have a date with Torsson tonight."

The look on Manfred's face was definitely worth the impending horror of dining with the stormbringer.

-x-

When Inez came into work the next day her face was pale and she looked like she'd been crying. Billy suspected he didn't look much better.

"Let me guess," he said, "she didn't believe you."

She gave a humourless laugh. "How did you know?"

"Because I called her about twenty times last night and she didn't pick up."

"I wondered who that was," Inez said thoughtfully. She slumped into a chair, dropping her head into her hands. "Idith's never really been mad at me before," she mumbled. "We've always been on the same page about everything, but now it's like…I don't know what to do."

Billy fidgeted, unsure of exactly how to comfort her. He'd never been good around upset girls, and he really hoped she wasn't going to cry. Quickly he blurted, "I never really had a best friend." Inez looked up, raised her eyebrows, but didn't say anything. She didn't seem to be close to tearing up, so Billy continued. "I mean…in school, everyone was mostly older than me, so I always felt like they just, I don't know, _let _me hang around or whatever. At least you have someone to be mad at you, not just like…a dog or something." He stopped, not exactly sure where he was going with this, and figuring it would probably be better if he just stopped talking.

Inez was still looking at him, but a hint of a smile was starting to appear on her face. "You don't do this very often, do you," she said, "The whole comfort thing."

"No, not really," he replied.

She patted his shoulder sympathetically. "You did pretty well for a first time." They sat together for a minute, and Billy wondered why fixing things always seemed to be more difficult than messing them up.

Suddenly, he stood up and pulled off his coat, hanging it on the hook behind him. "Come on. Take off your coat; we're taking a sick day."

"What?" Inez said, looking at him blankly. "We've never taken sick days the entire time we've worked here. What about the animals?"

"We have other people who can cover the animals," Billy told her seriously. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. I think it's time for an ambush."

-x-

"You look awful," Charlie told Asa, making his way over to the counter and eyeing the New Release display case.

"Huh." Asa looked down at his muddy shirt as though he'd only just realized he was wearing clothes. "I went for a run last night."

Charlie looked behind the counter, where Asa's things were piled haphazardly on top of each other. "Do you own anything besides clothes and records?"

Asa gave a humourless bark of laughter.

"So…what happened?"

"Well," Asa said, standing up and giving Charlie a sardonic grin, "Emma and I had a fight over Torsson, which is nothing new…I told her he was bad news, she didn't listen; the usual. Then I must have _completely_ lost it and kissed her, which is definitely _not_ usual, and then basically declared my feelings and she ran away and closed the door in my face. But really, what was I expecting? That she'd suddenly be over Torsson and be in love with me? I don't even know what I was thinking! So then I got my stuff, dumped it here, and then I don't really remember anything else about last night except now my mouth tastes like whiskey and squirrels."

Charlie stared. He'd _never _heard Asa speak so bitterly in his life. Usually the older boy was calm and collected, and despite the fact that he worked for minimum wage in a record store, could usually be counted on to be rational. Whenever Asa changed, he did it with caution, in a place far away from people, and with careful regard to the consequences. The fact that he didn't remember the previous night was probably a bad sign. Taking in Asa's dishevelled appearance and slightly wild eyes, Charlie could see that drastic action was clearly needed.

"Okay," he said, thinking over the options, "First of all, I bet Gabe would let you crash with him for the time being, because he has that extra room he never lets to anyone. Secondly, get something to eat… as far as I know, squirrels aren't exactly nutritious. Thirdly, you _kissed _Emma?"

Asa grinned. "Believe me, that was the only highlight." He tilted his head and regarded Charlie critically. "I take it that the black eye means Ben found out. What does that mean for you and Naren?"

Charlie sighed. "I don't know." He shook his head, trying to clear it. His thoughts about Naren were a tangled mixture of want and guilt, but mostly he just wanted to _talk _to her. Which was hard since she wasn't exactly talking to him. He leaned against the counter, wondering when his perfectly normal life had become such a mess. "You know," he said, "maybe I'll buy a CD today."

Asa leaned so his elbows were on the counter, then shrugged. "Love sucks," he said finally.

"Yeah," Charlie said, nodding seriously, "Yeah, it does."

-x-

Olivia banged open the door of the theatre, hoping to catch Emma before she rounded the corner. If she could just catch her and _explain_, she could make everything better. Emma couldn't hold it against her; they were best friends. Olivia just couldn't forget the look of utter shock and disgust on her friend's face, as though she could never look at Olivia the same way again. Fidelio had tried to grab her arm on the way out, but Olivia had just brushed him off. She knew Emma wouldn't tell; she'd say it was Olivia's business, but Olivia couldn't stand the idea of Emma hating her, judging her, or worse, ignoring her, so she picked up her pace, scouring the street for her best friend.

When she turned the corner, Emma was nowhere in sight, and Olivia quickly reached for her phone, but collided with someone walking the other way.

"Excuse me," she said, attempting to move around whoever she'd just run into.

"Terribly sorry Miss Vertigo, but I'm afraid we can't let you go anywhere." Olivia looked up to see the dark haired man from the theatre and had a moment of utter panic before the world went black.

-x-

After two hours of thinking (and one run to the store to replenish the ice-cream supply), Naren picked up the phone with shaking hands. She thought she knew what she wanted, and she hoped she hadn't already ruined it.

-x-

Emma forced herself to take deep breaths as she walked away from the theatre, imagining that if she took a deep enough breath, the image of Olivia and Fidelio would be magically erased.

Normally this would be the kind of thing she would talk to Asa about, but she wasn't sure what she would say to him when (if) she saw him again, or if he even wanted to see her. She hadn't expected to miss him already (it had only been a day after all), but she did. She wondered if Olivia really loved Fidelio, or if it was just habit. The thoughts of Olivia, Fidelio, Lysander and Asa started to swirl around in her head, until she had to sit down on the curb.

Her phone rang, and Emma glanced at it dispassionately before picking up. Tancred's cheery voice seemed to come from somewhere very far away. "Listen Emma, I know we were planning to go to dinner tonight, but the thing is…something came up…so I need to cancel, if that's cool. We can definitely do a late dinner tomorrow though."

"Oh," she said slowly, resting her elbows on her knees and staring up at the clouds overhead. It looked like rain, and she wondered why she didn't really care.

-x-

Asa and Gabriel had just finished putting Asa's things away ("No worries," Asa had said, "I already sleep on the couch.") when Gabriel's door was flung open dramatically and Dagbert Endless strode in, flinging himself across the couch.

"So _apparently _at the coffeehouse tonight there's some poser coming to read who thinks she can usurp our positions as reigning kings of poetry _and _the band cancelled at the last minute so Beth's like, 'Dagbert, get me a band,' like I'm some sort of wizard mage who can produce a band out of a hat. I am an _artist,_ not an errand band finder!"

"Umm," Asa said, looking down at Dagbert, "Who are you?"

"Also, how did you get in?" Gabriel asked. "The door was locked."

"Name's Dagbert," Dagbert said, holding a hand out to Asa. "You're practically famous at the coffee shop you know."

"I am?" Asa said, raising an eyebrow at Gabriel. Gabriel shrugged.

"Yeah, you work at Phoenix, right? Everyone knows you know, like, a ton about music. Plus you played for Fluorescent Robots. Not to mention My Red Geranium, Atomic Pocketbook and…what was that bluegrass fusion group called?"

"Downstream," Asa said dryly. Dagbert nodded excitedly. "Anyway, so about this girl…"

"Dagbert, not meaning to interrupt, but _how _did you get in?" Gabriel said. He _always _double checked the locks.

Dagbert shrugged. "Used one of Beth's bobby pins to jimmy open the lock. Jeez square, loosen up." He looked at them both seriously. "Now, about what I was saying. We _have _to take down Bindi when she comes tonight and-,"

"Wait, _Bindi Loom_ is coming? Dagbert, you know she's a published author right?" Gabriel said carefully.

"Whatever," Dagbert said dismissively, "she still must be brought down. I'm thinking that if we read my poem about the walrus and…hey," he said, addressing Asa, "You play drums, right?"

"Yeah," Asa said guardedly.

"If you do that, and Gabriel plays the guitar, I know someone who plays bass. Then I've totally done my job and found a band and won't get fired!" Dagbert grinned excitedly, standing up. "I'll see you all at the coffee shop tonight! This is going to be great!"

"Wait-," Asa started, "I don't even _know _you."

"See you at six!" Dagbert called cheerily, closing the door.

Asa turned to Gabriel. "This is all your fault."

"To be fair, I've never actually seen him that excited before," Gabriel offered, inwardly thankful that he mostly knew how to strum his guitar by now.

-x-

At the sight of Fidelio Gunn on his front porch, Lysander felt an urge to hit something. He'd never been a particularly violent person (in fact, he was unusually even tempered) but the sight of the musician caused a rush of anger so strong that Lysander was secretly glad there weren't any 2 x 4's lying around.

Still, he forced a pleasant expression on his face. After all, Fidelio had been a friend before he'd been a possible rival for his fiancée's affections. "Fidelio. What brings you here? Olivia isn't here."

"No, I know that," Fidelio said seriously. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," Lysander said, waving him in. Fidelio darted an anxious look around before entering the apartment, and once inside paced nervously until Lysander shut the door.

"So…What do you want?" Lysander asked, not bothering to disguise the animosity in his voice. He was pretty sure Fidelio wouldn't come right out and tell him if he was having an affair with Olivia, but then again, he didn't have a whole lot of experience with musicians.

"Umm, actually…I need your help," Fidelio said, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"What?" Lysander blinked at him in utter confusion. "Why would I help you?"

Fidelio sighed. "Listen, I don't really have time to explain this whole thing to you, but Olivia is in trouble. Serious trouble…and you're like a Lawyer-y person, and I think that you're really the best shot we have to help her."

"Okay, wait," Lysander folded his arms. "Are you telling me that Liv's in serious trouble because of you?"

"Yeah," Fidelio said seriously.

"Dangerous trouble?" Lysander asked.

"Umm, ye-," Fidelio didn't finish his sentence since he suddenly found himself pinned to the wall with Lysander's hands around his throat.

"_What did you do to her?_"

"I…can't…breathe," he gasped out. Lysander abruptly dropped his hands and sprung away from him, and Fidelio focused on taking deep breaths, forcing the air back into his lungs.

"I'm sorry," Lysander said, sitting down on the couch and dropping his head in his hands. "I just…I don't know what happened just then." He looked up at Fidelio. "It's just…I keep thinking…about you two." His eyes narrowed. "She'd say something, right? If there was anything? You'd tell me?"

Fidelio shifted. "Lysander, as much I would like to discuss this with you, we _really _don't have time for this right now. These guys aren't messing around."

Lysander seemed to snap back into himself. "Umm…sorry. Right, so, what _exactly _is going on? Where is Liv, and why do you need me?"

"I told you we don't have time-," Fidelio began.

"No." Lysander crossed his arms. "If I'm going to help you or whatever, I want to know exactly what's going on here. From the beginning."

Fidelio sighed. "It's kind of a long story."

Lysander pulled out his phone. "Well, the faster you talk, the faster we can help Olivia…so start talking."

-x-

Emma trudged reluctantly towards her empty apartment, mentally calculating if she had enough change in her drawers to order takeout. The rain that had been merely a threat earlier had morphed into a reality and Emma wished for the hundredth (millionth) time that she'd remembered her umbrella before going out.

She passed a warm looking restaurant and paused for few moments under the awning to wring out her hair. Peering in the windows she made out couples enjoying the evening and her throat tightened. She was just about to turn away when a familiar head caught her attention.

Tancred Torsson was leaning forward in his chair, talking to Zelda Dobinski. She was laughing at something he was saying. Emma didn't think she'd ever seen Zelda laugh before.

"Nauseating, isn't it," said a voice at her elbow, and Emma jumped back in surprise, whirling around. Manfred Bloor stood next to her, his black hair falling untidily into his face and a badly chewed pencil stuck behind one ear.

"I…don't know what you mean," she said, doing her best to scoot away from him. Although she and Manfred were on speaking terms now, they rarely interacted, and she'd often heard Tancred call him a "whackadoodle."

He snorted. "Please. Your face resembles an elf princess I once designed for a game. She pined away for a dwarf lord who never loved her back."

"I am _not _pining," Emma said hotly.

"Whatever you say," he shrugged, turning back to the window. They stood in silence for a few minutes.

"What are you doing here?" Emma asked finally.

"Nothing," he said absently, his gaze still fixed on the window. Inside, Tancred was pouring a glass of wine for Zelda and Zelda was smiling at him over the rim of her glass. Emma saw Manfred's jaw clench.

"What was that you were saying about elf princesses?" Emma said. Manfred just shot her an angry glance and turned back to the window. Standing next to him, Emma suddenly realized what her life had become. Watching the man she was supposedly in love with on a date with another woman while standing outside in the rain with another man who used to be her archenemy was not exactly the way she had pictured her life.

"I think I'm going to go home now," Emma said carefully, tucking up her hair and giving Manfred a half-hearted wave. He didn't acknowledge her as she left, but when she turned around she saw him square his shoulders and open the door of the restaurant. She supposed she should be happy someone was taking charge of their destiny, even if it wasn't her.

-x-

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A/N: Reviews are always lovely and appreciated (Especially since this was the chapter of random character interaction!)


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Yay! Chapter 10! To let you know, there will probably be about 2 more chapters left in this (maybe an epilogue…) so we are finally winding down. To people who are actually still reading this, thanks for sticking in here so long…you are amazing! This chapter turned out to have a lot more of the Tancred-centric stuff, which I didn't originally plan, but I feel like he's been kind of a side party to a lot of things going on…so now we finally get a glimpse into his psyche…I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Charlie Bone and all affiliated characters and terms belong to Jenny Nimmo; I also do not own ee cummings poetry

_Chapter 10- In which Emma has an epiphany, Dagbert makes a new friend, Billy becomes a poet, Tancred needs to grow up, Gabriel makes a discovery, Fidelio finally explains himself, and Naren makes a choice_

-x-

"So…you like this place?" Tancred asked, gesturing around at the dimly lit bistro. Emma sat stony faced in front of him, her plate untouched. She'd hardly said anything since he'd picked her up, and it was starting to irritate him.

"Emma," he used his best pleading voice and roguish smile. It had always worked in the past. Unfortunately, Emma didn't seem to be responding. He tried another tactic. "Do you know what I had to do to get us a spot here? Plus I rescheduled with Manfred Bloor just so we could have some time; just the two of us." She continued to stare at him accusingly, as though _he _was the one doing something wrong.

Finally, he gave up and snapped, "Look, Emma, I don't know what you want from me, okay? I've had a really rough couple of days, and I am just trying my best to have a nice evening out with my _girlfriend _who for no reason is acting like a total shrew!"

Emma raised her eyebrows disbelievingly. "No reason? Tancred, I've been a vegetarian for eleven years. Did you really think I'd like a place called _Trattoria Carne_?" When he shrugged, she gave him an incredulous look. "It's a _meat_ bistro Tancred. Everything here has meat in it."

The only thing that really occurred to him to say was "I didn't know."

Then suddenly Emma was standing up, fumbling with her coat and leaving the restaurant, and Tancred watched dumbly until she disappeared outside. Looking around at the astonished patrons, he figured he should probably chase her.

-x-

"This is so stupid," Fidelio said, crossing his arms as Lysander picked up his phone to make _another _call.

"You're the one who initiated this whole superhero team up," Lysander said calmly. "If you want good results, you've got to be willing to put the time in. The irrational man from earlier was gone, and the old Lysander seemed to be back, a fact for which Fidelio was immensely grateful. He had managed to dodge all the questions about his and Olivia's 'relationship' but he wasn't sure how much longer he could last.

"So anyway," Lysander said, "You'd just flown into Prague, and met these people from the symphony and then formed that performance group…then what?"

Fidelio shrugged. "I don't really know. We just got too popular too quickly. I guess when you've grown up with a million siblings and hand me downs and then incredibly rich men and women are offering you brand new instruments and giving you invitations to parties…it's hard not to get caught up in it, you know?"

Lysander narrowed his eyes. "I wouldn't know."

There was an awkward silence.

"Anyway," Fidelio said, "We ended up getting this invitation from some people in New York to come and play at their daughter's debutante ball, and they paid us really well. Two of the people in the group wanted to stay on in New York permanently, and that's when it started to go bad."

"Bad?" Lysander repeated.

"Well, they didn't have the proper documentation for permanent residency, and when they were caught, they asked me to help them. I didn't have enough money at the time, so I…borrowed it from one of my patrons…a woman in Vienna, and told her I would pay it off in one year. I thought that once my friends were back, they would re-form the group and help to pay off their debt."

"Obviously that didn't happen," Lysander remarked dryly.

Fidelio shrugged. "You'd be surprised how one little debt leads to more debts, and before you know it, you owe everyone. It seemed safest at the time to just come back here and lie low until I could figure out how to pay off the rest of the money."

"So what happened to all the money you made before?" Lysander asked. "You just spent it?"

Fidelio fidgeted. "Umm…well…I had some of it converted into…more…organic material that I was planning to sell to some people once I got here. That didn't end up working out, and I lost almost everything."

"And your friends from the group?" Lysander asked.

"Gone," Fidelio said, "I don't even know where."

"Uh huh." Lysander leaned back into his chair. "That still doesn't explain why _Olivia _is gone."

"They may have thought she was some sort of patroness and taken her to see if she would pay off the money," Fidelio said.

"Oh, _great_," Lysander said, throwing up his hands. "Some crazy, cash-obsessed debt collectors are probably holding my broke fiancée for ransom and you just mention this _now_?"

Fidelio was spared having to respond by the ringing of the telephone. As Lysander moved to answer it, Fidelio felt inexplicably better, even though he knew the older man probably still hated him. Even in school, Lysander's side had always won, and Fidelio hoped that things would work out the same way this time.

-x-

"Well that was nearly an _epic_ disaster," Asa remarked as he and Dagbert shoved the last of the speakers into the coffee shop's back closet. "What were you thinking?"

Dagbert shrugged, reaching over and locking the closet door. "It wasn't that bad."

"Wasn't _that _bad?" Asa gave him an incredulous look. "We were almost booed off the stage, not to mention that our lead guitarist nearly had a heart attack and ran away when he saw the bass player."

"Hey, I maintain that the _Sweet Home Alabama _cover was excellent. It totally saved the day."

"Only because no large crowd can resist the pull of _Sweet Home Alabama_," Asa said, his scowl morphing into a grin.

"So where's Gabe anyway? I thought he was going to stay and help break down," Dagbert said as they walked back into the nearly empty coffee house.

"I think he went home," Asa said. At Dagbert's look, he elaborated. "After the stunt you pulled? Calling Dorcas to come play the bass? Not exactly the most subtle move."

"Well he's been going on about how much he wanted to see her…" Dagbert started.

Asa shook his head. "You can't push him though. With Gabe, it's usually best to just let him do things at his own pace."

"Why?" Dagbert shot back, "so he'll never have a life?"

"No," Asa said, "so he's not scared of life when he finally gets one."

Dagbert shrugged. "I dunno. Sometimes people need to be pushed."

"Believe me," Asa said tersely, "being pushed is the _last _thing people need."

"Oookay," Dagbert said slowly, "I get the feeling that we've kinda veered away from Gabriel here…"

Asa's face abruptly shut down. "I don't want to talk about it. Especially not with you."

"Excuse me, but am I interrupting something?" A new voice broke into their conversation, and the two men turned to see a shorter dark-haired girl standing behind them.

"Oh," Dagbert said dismissively, "Poetry Usurper. What do _you_ want?"

"Uh…okay," the girl said slowly, "I just wanted to say that you guys were pretty good tonight…at least at the end, and I liked your poem about the whale. But, I guess if you're busy…"

"Wait…" Dagbert said slowly, "You _liked_ my poems?"

"Well, yeah," she said, "they weren't, you know, super deep or anything, but I liked how they rhymed and all."

"I'm Asa," Asa offered, feeling suddenly left out of the conversation.

"Bindi," she replied.

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Dagbert interrupted. "So what were you saying about the loss of depth in my poems? Because I have to tell you that _Mean Sea, Green Sea_ came from a really dark place in my life…"

Asa shook his head, pushing open the door of the coffee shop and leaving the two of them inside. It was funny, he thought, how two people could go from separate lives to togetherness almost in a minute. Or the opposite. Belatedly, he realized it was Thursday, and for the first time, not one person had gone to Pub Night.

-x-

Emma made it halfway down the sidewalk before Tancred caught up to her, his hair seeming more electrified than ever.

"Hey! What was that back there?" he asked, his voice teasing, although his eyes were serious.

Emma shrugged. Her thoughts seemed to be coming from all directions at once. "I just…I don't want…"

"It's okay, I mean, we can go somewhere else," Tancred said, smiling down at her.

It would be easy, Emma reflected, to just nod and go somewhere else. But something was different tonight, and Tancred seemed to sense it, his smile turning sober.

"Emma?" he asked, moving closer, and when she didn't respond he tilted her face to meet his. "What do you want?"

Although he meant it casually, Emma stopped. What did she want? She knew what she _didn't_ want. She didn't want to field calls from the landlord and make up excuses while she struggled to cover her half of the rent. She didn't want to chase Mittens around the fire escape and stay up late doing someone else's work. What did she want?

"Emma, hey…don't freak out on me. I need you," his voice broke through her thoughts, and she cringed at the undercurrent of raw desperation in his voice. She realized that it was true; Tancred did need her. He needed her to support him, to not ask questions, to adore him unconditionally and be there whenever he felt like it. Feeling a sudden hollow ache in her chest, Emma Tolly realized that she didn't want to be needed. She wanted to be _wanted_. She wanted someone to cook dinner for her, to ask her about work, someone she didn't have to take care of all the time. She did want Tancred, but not in the way he wanted her. That was why, even though it was maybe the hardest thing she'd ever done, she stepped away from him, pulling her coat around her.

"Tancred," she said slowly, "You don't even know I'm a _vegetarian_. I hope you and Zelda will be very happy together."

-x-

Naren twisted her hands in her lap as she faced Charlie and Ben across the picnic table. The two men had scooted as far as they could to either end of the bench and were watching her with nearly identical expressions of wariness.

"Okay, well, thanks for agreeing to meet up," she began, "I just wanted to-,"

"You didn't say anything about _him _being here," Ben cut in, jerking a thumb toward Charlie. Charlie didn't reply, hunching his shoulders and keeping his gaze on Naren. His black eye had diminished somewhat, but Naren's stomach knotted in guilt every time she looked at it, so she focused back on Ben.

"_Anyway_, I was hoping we could talk this over like adults," Naren continued. "Ben, I just wanted to tell you that Charlie and I _never _meant to hurt you in any way, and I just want you two to be friends again, whatever it takes."

"Whatever," Ben said, sounding suddenly weary. "To be honest, I don't really want to be mad at either of you." He sighed, looking carefully at Naren. "I just…want you to be happy…and if that's not with me then I guess I have to be okay with that." He turned to Charlie and said tightly, "I probably won't be at pub night for awhile." He stood, brushing off his jeans. "If you two will excuse me, the puppies haven't been exercised in awhile." Starting a few steps down the path, he turned back and called "I'll just drop whatever stuff you left at my place at your house sometime then."

Watching Ben disappear, Charlie turned to Naren, trying to catch her eyes. "I feel so…"

"Guilty," Naren finished for him. Although she'd gotten what she wanted, she had this crazy half-urge to run after Ben, tell him she was sorry and maybe adopt a puppy. "Charlie, I should probably go."

"Oh, of course. Right," he said. "I should go too. I'll see you later though, right?" he smiled at her, a little uncertainly.

"Sure," she said, still not looking at him. If she wasn't eaten by guilt first.

-x-

"Okay, so that was a miserable failure," Billy remarked in what he hoped was a casual tone (at least, as casual as he could fake considering they were sitting on the steps outside the hospital).

"You think?" Inez said dryly, handing him a bottle of water. "The doctors told me you have to take one of these every six hours for the next 48 hours to prevent relapse. You didn't think to mention your allergies before ambushing my sister at work?"

"I was sort of hoping she'd forgotten about them," Billy said sheepishly, swallowing one of the pills and trying not to make a face.

"Well, looks like she hasn't…and if the way she was waving that lavender is any indication, it looks like she's still angry." Inez pushed up her sleeves and then leaned back on her elbows on the cement. "So…any more genius plans?"

"Nope," Billy said, "I think I'll let you do the plan-making from now on."

"She did seem sort of sorry when your eyes got all watery and swollen though and you kept reciting the poem even though you couldn't stop sneezing. That's dedication." Inez propped herself back up on one side to face him.

"I'm a very dedicated man," Billy said, turning and smiling at her.

"It was a nice poem though," she said. "I liked the part about 'newfragile yellows' …I couldn't really understand the part at the end because of the sneezing."

"Oh," Billy said, "he says that '_And the coolness of your smile is, stirringofbirds between my arms;but, i should rather than anything, have(almost when hugeness will shut, quietly)almost,  
your kiss,_'" He realized belatedly that he was kind of staring into Inez's eyes and blurted, "Yeah…so, that's the end."

"Well," Inez said, equally quickly, standing up and nearly knocking into him, "Like I said, it's…umm…a great poem."

"Yeah," Billy said, somewhat awkwardly.

"So…I should…maybe go home and see if I can talk to Idith again?" Inez said, making the statement sound more like a question.

"Oh! Idith. Sure!" Billy said, standing up as well. "I should probably go home to…prevent more allergy attacks. You know…"

"Right. Well, Bye!" Inez called, practically sprinting away.

"Bye," Billy said, slipping his medicine in his pocket and deciding that maybe he would go and see Charlie. He was beginning to think that maybe he just wasn't cut out for romance.

-x-

Manfred slid into the booth across from Tancred, crossing his arms. "Can we make this quick? I have to be at a video conference call for my new game in half an hour."

Tancred stared pointedly into his drink. "Shouldn't you be doing some sort of victory dance about now? You _won_."

"I guess," Manfred said. "Woo."

"Well don't get too excited," Tancred said, rolling his eyes.

Manfred sighed loudly. "Don't you ever get tired of this?"

"What?"

"This." Manfred gestured between them. "These contests, I mean, we're not in school anymore…shouldn't we be moving on?"

"Says the guy who turned over a table last night," Tancred muttered.

"I'm just saying," Manfred said, "it's been what, seven or eight years since graduation? It's not like we're kids anymore."

"So…what're you saying?" Tancred propped his elbows on the table and began to build a castle with the creamers.

Manfred gave Tancred a long look. "I'm saying I'm out. For good."

-x-

After fifteen minutes of the continuous knocking, Gabriel decided enough was enough. He shuffled to his door and peered through the peephole, praying it wasn't Dorcas on the other side. To his surprise, he saw Dagbert Endless leaning against the door. Sighing, he opened the door (since he figured Dagbert would probably find a way in anyway).

"I see you bothered to knock this time instead of just breaking in," he said, crossing his arms. He knew he should probably be making an attempt to sound adult, but he was still mostly angry and a little embarrassed. He wasn't sure why he'd run away from Dorcas, but he preferred to brood about it alone.

Dagbert appeared unfazed. "Yeah, well…I'm trying to apologize, so I thought it would make a better impression if I knocked."

"Apologize?" Gabriel echoed. He was pretty sure he'd never heard Dagbert use the word in a sentence before, much less connected to him.

"Yes, _apologize_," Dagbert said, "it means to say you're sorry for hiring a bass player and freaking out your friend so much that he runs off the stage once he realizes who it is…even though it takes him a really long time to recognize her."

"Wait, did you say _friend_?" Gabriel asked.

"That's really all you got from that?" Dagbert said, raising an eyebrow. "You're hopeless." He paused, assessing Gabriel carefully. "I guess it's a good thing you have me."

Gabriel started to smile back, but something else occurred to him. He carefully reviewed the past few days in his mind and then slowly began to back away from the door while still maintaining eye contact with Dagbert.

"I'm confused," he said, choosing his words cautiously. "You always say mean things to me, but then you show up and break into my house, and make me get tattoos and do all this kinda nice stuff for me, like help me with Dorcas. I'm not like…I mean I like…girls…" He trailed off thinking that as awkward conversations went, this one probably scored in the top ten.

Dagbert's eyes suddenly widened and he took several steps backward. It was the first time Gabriel had ever seen the younger boy at a loss for words. "Whoa…umm…wait just a second… Okay…First of all, I'm already dating someone, so if you were looking to apply for the job, it's taken." He snorted, and then muttered. "As if I'd date someone who thinks starfish aren't fierce." Stepping forward again he continued, "Second, haven't you heard of _Bromance_? Sheesh!" He rolled his eyes and was suddenly back to the Dagbert Gabriel knew.

"Bromance?" Gabriel blinked.

"Yep," Dagbert nodded seriously. "Face it square, we aren't future lovers…we're BFFs." Then he grinned, pushed passed Gabriel and settled himself on the couch. "Now let's turn on some manly music and figure out how to get your girl back."

-x-

After the fifth phone call, Emma decided she should really invest in more girlfriends. After all, what was the point in having a really dramatic (traumatic) breakup when your two best friends (Olivia Vertigo and Naren Bloor, respectively) couldn't be bothered to pick up the telephone.

-x-

"My life has officially spun out of my control," Tancred announced, banging open the door to Lysander's apartment. To his surprise, Lysander and Fidelio Gunn were sitting at Lysander's kitchen table, a telephone and a pile of papers between them. "Umm…am I interrupting something?" Tancred asked.

"Not now Tanc," Lysander said wearily.

Tancred paused from helping himself to the contents of Lysander's fridge. (Olivia did make amazing scones) "Hey, if something's going on, you know you can tell me."

Lysander sighed, looking up from the papers. "I hate to break it to you Tanc, but while you've been chasing skirts, the rest of us have been moving on with our lives. Just go _home_, and I'll call you in a couple of days." His mobile phone chimed with an incoming text message, and he looked back down at the papers, indicating that the conversation was over.

Tancred was not willing to give up so easily. "I _am _moving on with my life! I'm trying to tell you that Emma broke up with me, I just lost a bet to _Manfred _and I think I'm really unhappy!"

Lysander looked up again. His voice held a frustrated edge that Tancred had heard occasionally directed at inanimate objects, but never at him. "Listen, could you just…go?"

"Go?" Tancred echoed dumbly. "What's going on?"

"Oh, so you suddenly care now?" Lysander stood up abruptly, nearly knocking over his chair. "Did you know that half the calls I've made today have been to you, because my fiancée is missing; maybe taken by insane criminals? I would have thought that my _best friend_ would care. But no, my _best friend_ is too busy making stupid bets with Manfred and taking out random girls and being jaded about true love to care!"

"Sander…I…" Tancred started.

"Forget it," Lysander slumped back down into his chair. "I don't know why I thought you'd care. When was the last time we even talked? I mean, you've _changed_ since graduation. We all have. Maybe we just didn't want to admit it, because we had such a good thing back in school, but maybe things just can't stay the same forever, you know?" His phone rang again and he moved to answer it, leaving Tancred standing alone by the fridge.

When he heard Lysander on the phone again, Tancred moved to let himself out, giving Fidelio a half-hearted wave. As he was leaving, it crossed Tancred's mind how _adult _Lysander's apartment was; he hadn't redecorated his own since he'd first moved to the city. He wondered if maybe it was time to give away his Nirvana posters (he actually hadn't listened to them since Bloors), but a drink was sounding like an equally appealing possibility.

-x-

A/N: Billy's poem is ee cummings "i have found what you are like"

Also, as always, reviews are always welcomed, encouraged, etc...


	11. Chapter 11

* * *

_Chapter 11- In which there is a dramatic rescue, fortuitous meetings, and lots of angsting_

_-x-  
_

When Olivia pictured kidnappings, she always imagined scenes from spy movies, where the dishevelled (but still attractive) heroine's blindfold was ripped off, revealing a dark, forbidding warehouse or condemned building.

Instead, her blindfold was gently removed and she found herself in what seemed to be a rather ordinary living room of an ordinary flat that could have belonged to any one of her friends (framed needlepoint kitten pictures aside, because really, there was a limit). Her kidnappers looked pretty ordinary too, just a somewhat scruffy looking man and woman, both in jeans…definitely not the scary suit guys from earlier.

"Umm," she managed, (thanking her theatre training that her voice didn't waver) "Is this the point where I ask what I'm doing here and what you want?"

The man glanced at his companion, and then shrugged. "I guess…we've…uh…never really done this before."

The woman (nearly a girl, Olivia thought, since she seemed to be closer to Olivia's own age) elbowed the man hard in the ribs and fixed Olivia with a glare that was clearly supposed to be menacing.

"The reason Canine and I brought you here-," she began.

"Hey, I thought you were Canine!" the man objected.

"No, I'm pretty sure _you _were Canine," the girl said, crossing her arms at her partner.

"You're the one who insisted on the stupid code names!" he said petulantly, "It's not my fault I can't remember them."

Olivia sighed and considered just illusing some police, but she found that a part of her was intrigued with her kidnappers, and she was pretty sure she wasn't going to be hurt. "Excuse me," she interrupted the pair, who were still squabbling furiously, "Can we skip to the part where you tell me why I'm here?"

"Oh, yeah… sorry," the girl said, looking contrite. "We want our part of the money. Fidelio said you had it."

-x-

"Here you go," Charlie said, handing Naren a glass of water and settling beside her on the couch. Naren gave him a half-hearted smile and turned back to the movie.

She and Charlie had been practicing spending time together since they were officially allowed to be together…and it felt like practice. Naren remembered when it had been easy to be with Charlie, how his eyes would always find hers whenever something was funny, and how he seemed to know exactly what she wanted without being asked. Now whenever they were together, it was like they didn't know how to behave. She'd find her eyes sliding away from his and the conversation was always stilted. They still hadn't talked about Ben, but his lack of presence was like a Great Dane in the room. Naren was beginning to wonder if she and Charlie needed an affair to make things work.

She sighed, shifting positions. Charlie leaned over, touching her arm. When she turned to look at him, he gave her a tired, sad smile.

"I don't think we're meant to work out, are we."

Her reply was interrupted by the phone ringing.

-x-

Asa had dropped by the coffee shop to pick up his check but found it deserted, except for Beth, who was wiping down the counters and humming under her breath. He cleared his throat a few times but she didn't look up.

"Do you know where Dagbert went?" he asked, realizing that Beth clearly wasn't going to acknowledge his existence. She looked up slowly, as though his very presence in the shop was utterly ridiculous.

"He got a call from Gabriel and left earlier," she said, turning back to the tables.

"Uh, okay," Asa said, trying not to sound irritated, "Could you tell me where he went or when he'll be back?"

"He said he was going to some dude's house cause his fiancée was kidnapped or something…but he probably just made it up to get out of work," Beth shrugged and turned her back to him, clearly indicating that the conversation was over. Asa sighed and pulled out his phone, noticing a new voicemail. He was only halfway through the message before he started sprinting towards Lysander's.

-x-

Lysander looked over the group sitting in his apartment. "Okay, the reason I called everyone here is because clearly you're all friends with Olivia, and you might be able to help. Except you," he said, indicating Dagbert, "I have no idea who you are and why you're here." Dagbert shrugged nonchalantly.

"Where's Tancred?" Billy asked, surveying the rest of the group. Although he hadn't spent time with his friends in awhile (having an unusually complicated love life called for a more reflective lifestyle), he could tell group dynamics had dramatically shifted over the past few days. Gabriel, Dagbert and Asa currently occupied the couch, while he and Charlie sat immediately to their left in the armchairs. Emma and Naren had clearly made it a point to sit all the way across the room at Lysander's counter. Ben was also suspiciously absent.

"Tancred couldn't make it," Lysander said, in a tone that allowed no room for argument while simultaneously shooting Fidelio a look. "Anyway," Lysander continued, "I've talked to most of my contacts in the legal circuit, and Fidelio has attempted to contact the people he knows through music, but no one has heard anything. Can anyone else think of anything suspicious they might have heard or seen?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Billy saw Emma shift uncomfortably, eyes darting to Fidelio, but she said nothing. On a whim, he stood up. "Hey, I'm going to make a quick coffee run. Emma, wanna come?" Emma nodded gratefully and followed him out of the apartment. Asa eyed them unhappily but said nothing.

-x-

"So…" Olivia said slowly, hoping she had everything straight, "Fidelio promised you some money…and then he told you…I had it."

"Yeah," the guy said, "so where is it?"

"I really hate to tell you this, but I have no idea what you are talking about," Olivia said, attempting to inject as much sincerity as possible into her voice.

The girl snorted. "Sure you don't." She leaned forward into Olivia's personal space. "I'm going to say this once. We have ways of getting you to tell the truth. Eric can-," She broke off, darting a glance at her partner. He made a face at her. "Hey…I said no code names in the first place!"

Olivia decided it was about time she escaped. She closed her eyes and had nearly finished imagining a police chief when she was interrupted by a very real knock at the door.

-x-

"Okay," Billy said when they were halfway down the street, "I bet you knew we weren't going for coffee."

Emma's lips quirked. "I figured."

"But you do know something."

Shoving her hands into her pockets, Emma took a few quick steps forward. "Maybe." When Billy said nothing else, she sat down on the curb, pulling her hands back out of her pockets and began fiddling with the buttons on her coat. Billy sat down next to her, leaning back on the pavement. "It's just…last time I saw Liv…she wasn't…I was just so angry at her…" Emma sighed. "I'm sorry; I'm not explaining this very well. When I saw Olivia, she was with Fidelio."

"So?" Billy said, "They're friends." Emma raised an eyebrow. "Oh…," Billy said slowly, "you mean like _that_. Does Sander know?"

"Do you think Fidelio would still be alive if he did?" Emma asked.

"Hmmm," Billy said, "You make a good point."

"Sorry I dragged you into the secret," Emma said after a minute.

"Eh, I guess feels good to be included," Billy said. "Do you think we should tell Sander?"

"I don't know," Emma sighed, "I feel like that's something Olivia needs to do…but she's not really here right now…,"

"You're probably right," Billy said quickly, "I mean, it's not really our thing…"

"Yeah," Emma said, clearly relieved.

"So," Billy said, after another moment of silence. "How are things with Asa?"

Emma stood up abruptly, nearly knocking Billy on his side. "Shouldn't we be getting the coffee?"

-x-

Joshua knew the minute Zelda walked into the apartment, since the cheerful clicking of Manfred's computer keys became suddenly silent. There was also the banging of the door opening. He stuck his head out the door to see Zelda standing with apparent murderous intent, stiletto heel in one hand. The other had already been pitched across the room at Manfred, who had relocated to the couch and was doing his best to ignore the very angry woman directly behind him.

"A table Manfred?" Zelda was shouting. "I am having a perfectly acceptable dinner, which someone actually offers to _pay _for, which, I might add, you _never _do, and you come storming in, ranting about dwarves and elves and then in what I can only assume is a fit of _insanity _you decide to hit my date with a _breadstick_-,"

"He provoked me," Manfred muttered.

Zelda ignored him. "As if that isn't insulting enough, you actually get into a breadstick _fight_ with said date, _turn over the table_ and, more importantly, spill wine on my new dress! _What _were you thinking?"

"I made a progress chart," Manfred said, resolutely staring at the wall.

"Manfred, what-," Zelda began, confusion replacing the anger on her face.

"It seems like we should be able to calculate Torsson's downfall, but the numbers are a little tricky," Manfred continued, still not looking at her.

Suddenly Zelda dropped her shoe and marched over to the couch, turning to face Manfred and grabbing the graph. Manfred's eyes abruptly shifted towards her, and then widened in horror as she ripped the graph to shreds.

"What is your _problem_?" She shouted, throwing the paper on the ground.

"My problem?" Manfred retorted, his black eyes furious. He stood up, clenching his fists at his sides. "What is _your_ problem? You just destroyed my chart!"

"My problem is that you are acting like a weirdo and won't tell anyone why!" Zelda crossed her arms and glared at the man in front of her.

"Well, clearly you're too busy with Tancred to care anyway," Manfred shot back.

"_Tancred?_" Zelda asked incredulously. "That was your idea in the first place!"

Manfred ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "I…you…I don't…" He trailed off, glaring at her.

"You don't _what_?" Zelda asked, looking equally frustrated.

Manfred took a deep breath. "I don't want you dating Tancred."

"Oh?" Zelda raised an eyebrow. "And why not?"

"Because." Manfred shrugged, looking down.

"Because," Zelda said sarcastically. "Oh, sure, okay. Because is such a good answer. I'm _so_ glad we had this talk."

"You know what, _fine_!" Manfred shouted, abruptly losing his composure. "Date whoever you want! Date Torsson, that's just _great_! I mean, he's always been better than me at everything, so really, what does it matter anyway if he gets you too!" He turned to leave, but was stopped when Zelda grabbed his sleeve. He turned, meeting her eyes.

"You're so stupid," she said, smiling a little at him. Before Manfred recovered, she'd pulled him the rest of the way around and threading one hand into his hair, pulled his head down to hers.

Joshua suddenly felt a little voyeuristic. He decided to read on the fire escape.

-x-

The room stayed more or less silent while everyone waited for Billy and Emma to get back with coffee. Lysander paced the kitchen, Asa drummed absentmindedly on the table, and Naren doodled on an old piece of paper.

Dagbert had been silent until he suddenly leaped off the couch and pointed triumphantly at Naren. "Hey, I've got it!"

Startled, Naren dropped her pen. "What?"

"Yeah," Dagbert grinned. "You can't date Ben…the one with the dogs…cause he dates the spaniel girl."

"Spaniel girl?" Naren echoed stupidly.

"Yeah, you know, the one who trains those spaniels who can balance on beach balls and stuff…" Dagbert smiled, nodding his head earnestly. "I love those spaniels."

"Wait," Charlie said, "Ben's _dating_ this spaniel girl?"

"Well, _duh_," Dagbert said, rolling his eyes, "They've only been dating for like, six months."

There was a stunned silence.

"Ben and I just broke up a few days ago," Naren said quietly.

"Oh." Dagbert said, sitting quietly back down on the couch. "That's awkward."

"I think I need to leave now," Naren said.

She gathered her things and closed the door quickly behind her. Gabriel shot Dagbert a look. Dagbert raised his hands defensively. "Hey, how was I supposed to know she was already dating dog boy? I was mostly paying attention to the ice-cream."

-x-

Billy carefully gathered the coffee orders, balancing Asa's drink carefully on top of the cup holders. He turned as carefully as he could, attempting to peer over the top of the cup and wishing that Emma would come out of the bathroom and help him already. Lost in his thoughts he failed to see the armchair in front of him and tripped, sending the drinks spilling over the chair and the chair's occupant.

"I'm so sorry!" Billy exclaimed. "I'll get some napkins. I really didn't mean for that to happen, I was just carrying a bunch of drinks and then…," Looking down he was suddenly confronted by a familiar face.

"I guess we're kinda fated to meet over coffee mishaps," Idith said, attempting to brush off her coffee covered skirt.

"Guess so," Billy said, outwardly striving for nonchalance and inwardly trying to keep himself from having a nervous breakdown.

"Hey," she said, "I've actually been hoping to run into you. I was hoping maybe we could talk about…stuff. You know."

"Umm…sure," Billy said. "My friend is actually in the bathroom, but when she gets out…" He hoped Lysander wouldn't mind if he went missing for a few more minutes.

-x-

Running down the stairs, Olivia could hardly resist doing a victory dance. Life was officially awesome… (Well, except for the whole still being tied up thing). Turning down the third flight of stairs and using her shoulder to push open the door, she nearly skipped outside.

"Freeeeeeeeedom!" she shouted gleefully. They'd left the kidnappers handcuffed to the desk and bed (respectively), and Olivia was already considering how she'd write the scene in a play. She turned to her rescuer. "I thought I'd _never _get out of there!"

"Please," Tancred said scornfully, adjusting his police hat. "You've barely been gone a day. Now turn around so I can untie you. I don't want to get arrested for kidnapping and impersonation."

Olivia complied, turning around obediently. She'd been completely shocked when Tancred had shown up in the hotel room, especially when he'd efficiently handcuffed her kidnappers to the furniture and hustled her out.

"How'd you even know where I was?" she asked, turning back to where Tancred had stashed the police outfit in a paper bag.

He shrugged. "I have sources."

She opened her mouth to ask more questions _Why are you suddenly thinking about other people? Where's Lysander? Did you know I could've rescued myself? Do you know about Fidelio? _ Instead she said, "They mentioned something about Fidelio owing them money. Do you know what they were talking about?"

Tancred turned to her, eyebrows furrowed. "They said he owed them?" He shook his head. "I don't know anything about that; you'll have to ask Fidelio."

Olivia nodded. She definitely had some questions to ask when she got back.

-x-

* * *

Blarg. This chapter was a nightmare to write. It has literally been sitting here since the end of chapter 10…and my brain just sort of broke. I apologize for the shortness and inconsistencies…but this thing is getting posted (possibly to be revised later)


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

_In which there are confrontations and gigs_

_Or_

_In which there are enough confrontations to give the reader whiplash_

-x-

Olivia wasn't sure what she'd been expecting when she and Tancred got to Lysander's, but it certainly wasn't a collection of blank stares.

"Well," she said, rather unnecessarily, "We're back."

In an instant, Lysander was on his feet. "Liv! How did you-?"

Olivia smiled. "Tancred pulled a fast one on the abductors. They're probably still tied to the bed…unless the police have gotten there." She laughed a little at the thought.

Lysander shook his head. "I just…" He turned to Tancred. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone off at you like I did."

Tancred shrugged, smiling. "Hey, I needed to hear it. You're probably the only one who can knock any sense into me anyway." He gave a brief wave and ducked quickly out the door.

Lysander smiled at her. "I'm just glad you're all right. Everyone was so worried."

Olivia looked around. Everyone, minus Billy, was there, staring at her with hopeful expressions. She glanced over to the couch, where Fidelio was seated.

"We're really glad you're okay, Liv," he said, giving her a relieved smile.

"Yeah," she said slowly, focusing on him and watched as his smile faded. "It's lucky I am huh?"

"What?" he asked, brow wrinkling in confusion.

"Fidelio, everyone knows," Lysander cut in. "I think it would probably be best for everyone is you just left."

"Lysander!" Olivia said. "I just got back!"

Lysander turned to her with a stony glare. "And if it wasn't for him, you wouldn't have been gone in the first place. He's got no reason to be here."

"But I don't-," Olivia started.

Lysander froze. He looked from Fidelio to Olivia. "So that's how it is," he said, his voice flat and expressionless. "Why didn't you just _tell _me, Liv? It would've been okay if you would've just _told_ me." He didn't say anything else, only looked at them both for a long moment, before turning and leaving the apartment.

Olivia couldn't remember anybody looking at her like that, ever, not even when they were first dating. It was that last look that made her suddenly want to push away from Fidelio and run down the steps of the theatre and yell how she never meant any of it; she wanted to get married, had always wanted to get married, but one glance at Fidelio's face and she froze again.

Fidelio shrugged. "Well, he's gone. I'm glad that's over with."

"Wait a minute," Olivia said. "You get me kidnapped and you just expect me to be okay with that?" She shook her head. "You also lied to people, specifically _me_, which I don't really know if I can deal with." Shrugging helplessly, she pointed to the door. "I think it would be better if you just left."

Fidelio started to say something, but before he could, Dagbert, Gabriel and Asa had herded him out the door. Charlie trailed after them. Olivia looked over to Emma, who was still standing by the doorway.

"So what're you going to do?" Emma asked.

Olivia shrugged. "I don't know. It's like I have these two different people pulling me in both directions. I feel like I'd be happy either way, but there'd probably be part of me that would wonder what would happen if I chose differently."

"Sounds like quite a choice," Emma said.

"What would you do?" Olivia asked.

Emma laughed. "I'm probably the last person you should ask for advice. I can't even figure out my own feelings. I guess…I guess you just have to think about what makes _you _happy, and you'll figure the rest out."

Olivia smiled then. "Thanks for being my friend Em, even when I'm stupid."

Emma smiled back. "Always," she said simply.

-x-

"The thing is," Gabriel said, absently kicking a pebble as he, Asa, and Dagbert left Lysander's apartment, "I don't think they'll ever be able to work this out properly. Everyone can see she's mad for Fidelio."

"Yeah, but Lysander's always been there for her. She wouldn't have agreed to _marry _the guy if she didn't like him," Asa argued.

Dagbert shrugged. "I think she should just marry both of them. There are places where that's legal, right?"

Gabriel kicked the pebble into Dagbert's shins.

"Speaking of legal," Dagbert continued, unperturbed, "We have another show tonight."

"What does that have to do with legal?" Asa asked.

Dagbert grinned. "Well, we get paid." He turned to Gabriel. "You aren't going to get all bent out of shape if Dorcas is there, are you?"

Gabriel mumbled noncommittally.

"Good," Dagbert said, looking pleased. "Then it's a date." He thought for a moment. "We should invite Emma. She's all down and sad lately, and she must really be heartbroken since she and Torsson broke up."

"They WHAT?" Asa stopped in his tracks.

"You didn't know?" Dagbert said innocently. "Well…according to my sources, Emma was the one who ended it."

"Really," Asa said thoughtfully, a smile slowly appearing on his face. "Now that's too bad."

-x-

Billy methodically stirred his coffee, adding much more sugar than was probably good for him. "Okay," he said to Idith, "You wanted to talk. Let's talk."

She looked down at her coffee, and then back at him. "I'm not really sure where to start."

"The beginning?" he offered.

Idith laughed dryly. "The beginning? I guess…well…once upon a time there was a girl. And she got some flowers from a boy."

Billy half-smiled. "I think I know this story."

Idith shook her head. "Maybe not this version." She was quiet for a moment, then took a breath and continued. "What the boy doesn't know is that the girl liked the flowers…a lot. She didn't understand though, why the boy would send them. Then she actually met him, and discovered he was sweet, although he was allergic to almost everything where she worked. Still the girl was happy…until one night, when she saw him kissing her sister."

"But that was…I thought-," Billy started.

"I know," Idith smiled. "I know you thought she was me…and I forgive you for that. But it doesn't change the fact that you didn't really want it to be me…did you?"

Billy raised his eyebrows, confused. "Of course I wanted it to be you."

She shook her head. "No, you didn't. Not really, anyway." She took a slow sip of her coffee. "It's convenient, I think, that we look alike, anyway. You probably wouldn't have looked twice at me if I hadn't been her twin."

"I don't think I get what you're saying," Billy said.

"You still like my sister," Idith said clearly. "It's clear we're not supposed to be together Billy, the way we met was even an accident. I've always been getting in the way of you two, and I think that it's time we stopped kidding ourselves." She stood up, straightening her skirt and putting down her cup.

"But-," Billy began.

Idith smiled at him. "I'll be okay Billy, really, I will. But I think you'd better have a talk with Inez, and figure out how you really feel." With that, she left him alone with his now-cold cup of coffee, and a jumble of conflicting feelings.

-x-

Naren adjusted her head scarf and ducked behind a leash exhibit. She knew she shouldn't be here, but after her minor revelation at Lysander's, she knew that if there was ever a time for closure, this was probably it. She peered out from behind the retractable leashes and quickly zeroed in on Ben.

"Ben!" she called, hurrying over to where he was examining some nylon leashes.

"Naren? How did you find me?" Ben asked incredulously, nearly knocking over the display.

"There was only one dog show this weekend, and it wasn't hard to spot the guy with seven puppies in tow," Naren said wryly, glancing down at the dogs, who, for once, actually seemed afraid.

"Umm, well," Ben said, struggling for a response.

Naren sighed. "You know, forget it. This isn't about the dogs."

Ben's eyebrows drew inwards and then he sighed heavily. "If this is about Carrie-,"

"Oh, Spaniel Girl?" Naren asked icily.

"Yeah…," Ben said, "It's over. We stopped seeing each other a few days ago, actually." He looked up at her hopefully. "It was just…you always seemed so distant, and Carrie was always into the same stuff I was so…," He trailed off.

Naren's righteous indignation faded. She'd been hoping to catch them in some sordid affair, but hearing that it was over just made her wonder why coming here had even been an appealing idea in the first place.

Ben, sensing her hesitation, brightened. "I knew you'd come around. That thing with Charlie, it was just…a response, you know, to me being gone all the time. I'm sorry. I'll try to be home more often, and maybe you can come here too." He grinned, and reached for her.

It would be easy, Naren reflected, just to let him smooth things over, like nothing had ever been wrong. _But that was always our problem,_ she thought. _We just pretend nothing's wrong._ Before Ben reached her, she held out a hand and stopped him.

"You know, I hate dogs."

"What?" Ben said, confusion etched across his face.

"I don't like dogs," Naren repeated. "Or puppies. Or dog shows. I don't like animals in general, really. I mean, maybe a lizard would be okay, but dogs are just so…I don't know…furry."

"I don't think I understand you," Ben said slowly.

Naren shrugged. "You just… made me feel so _guilty_ for everything that happened, like I had something to be ashamed of. Now, when I find out you've been lying, we should just go back to how it was before, without even talking about it? Just pretend we're fine, when we're clearly not? I'm sorry Ben, but I can't do this…any of this." She turned toward the exit, taking a big cleansing breath.

"Oh yeah," Ben shouted after her. "So if it's over, then why'd you come here?"

Naren turned, facing him. Ben was standing still amid the leashes, the dogs all turned towards her.

"Closure," she said finally, and kept walking.

-x-

When Olivia left Lysander's, she nearly ran into Tancred, who was leaning against the wall of the building. "Well Vertigo, I gotta say, I was impressed with you today. You're one hell of an actress."

Olivia shrugged. "It's not anything to brag about. My skills as an actress only got me in trouble with the people I love." She slung her bag more securely over her shoulder, and started down the street. Halfway down the sidewalk, she turned around. "You know, you expect things like this will end badly eventually, but you convince yourself that just one more day won't hurt." She sighed. "I guess I just didn't expect to end so soon."

"Sounds like you need a break from all this," Tancred said, pushing off the wall and falling into step next to her.

"You said it," Olivia said tiredly.

"I'm serious," Tancred said, stopping and taking hold of her arm. "I think you should come work for me."

-x-

"This is great!" Gabriel shouted to Dagbert, who was fiddling with the microphone stand. The crowd at the coffee shop was practically pulsing with energy. Gabriel could see Charlie, Naren, Emma and Olivia at the makeshift bar, and made out Billy's white hair pushing through the crowd. He recognized Manfred and Zelda at one of the tables in the back, holding hands. _Odd_, he thought.

"Are you nervous?" Dagbert asked.

Gabriel thought for a minute. "Actually, no."

Dagbert's grin threatened to take over his entire face. "Congratulations then, square. I think you've officially graduated to a rectangle!"

"What does that even mean?" Gabriel asked.

"It means you're slightly less lame than when I met you," Dagbert said happily. "Oh hey, Asa!" Gabriel turned to see the drummer climbing up onstage.

"Hey guys," Asa said, giving them a salute, but his eyes were on Emma.

"How're you doing?" Gabriel asked.

Asa grinned, his eyes lighting with mischief. "I am doing awesome." Gabriel laughed, shaking his head.

"Are we ready?" Dorcas's voice joined the conversation. When Gabriel turned around, she was standing onstage holding her bass, her blond hair catching the lights. They stared at each other until Dagbert coughed emphatically.

"Yeah," Gabriel said, his eyes moving back to Dorcas. "We're ready."

-x-

"Thanks for letting me crash here!" Lysander shouted to Charlie. When his friend didn't answer, Lysander rolled off Charlie's couch and went to investigate. He found Charlie in the bathroom, sitting in the empty bathtub.

"Should I ask?" Lysander asked drily.

Charlie looked up at him. "I've always tried to be there for Naren. It didn't even matter that she was with Ben, if I could even be a good friend, I was okay. Now though, when I finally thought we could be together, it's not enough. I don't know what to do anymore."

Lysander laughed. "Listen, Charlie, I wasn't going to say anything, because I was hoping you'd figure it out, but you've got to start looking after yourself. What you and Naren have is your business, and you know you've got to deal with it. That's probably the one thing you should actually do something about, because you two deserve to be happy. Think about it, okay Charlie?"

Charlie gave him a lopsided smile, then reached up, grabbing Lysander's sleeve and standing unsteadily. "Thanks Sander."

"Anytime."

-x-

"This is exactly what I needed," Olivia declared, setting her empty cup on the bar. "A fun night out, getting away from all my problems. And the band isn't so bad either," she said with a sly glance at Emma.

"Shut up," Emma said, blushing. It was true that she'd been scouring the crowd for Asa's distinct hair, but she had no idea what to say when (if) she saw him.

"Hey guys," Naren said, settling onto a stool next to Olivia. "I broke up with Ben!"

"Again?" Emma asked, wrinkling her nose. "How many times do you have to break up with someone these days?"

Naren laughed. "Well it's definitely over this time. We had closure."

"Sorry I'm late," Charlie plopped down next to Emma. Olivia glanced between Naren and Charlie. "You know Charlie, there's an empty seat next to Naren…"

"Oh, I couldn't…" Charlie started, but Olivia and Emma had already gotten up and were switching, so he found himself next to Naren.

"Hey," he said, smiling tentatively.

"Hey yourself," Naren said slowly, giving him a small smile in return.

"Okay, this is stupid," Olivia suddenly declared, leaning between them.

"Charlie, do you want to be with Naren?"

"Yeah," Charlie said, staring her straight in the eyes. "Yeah I do."

Olivia put her hands on her hips. "Naren, do you _want _to be with Charlie?"

Naren paused, and then nodded.

"Well then," Olivia said smugly, "What's the problem? The way I see it, the only reason you two _aren't _together is some misplaced, deluded sense of guilt."

"Well," Naren started, "it's more complicated than-,"

"Psh," Olivia said dismissively, "It is not. You two just make it that way because that's what you do."

Charlie thought about this. "She's right you know."

Naren grinned. "She has her moments."

-x-

* * *

And there it is! The (almost) last chapter! Hopefully it was worth the wait. Let me know what you think!


	13. Chapter 13

_Chapter 13_

_In which everything sorts itself out_

"That was more fun that I thought it would be," Dorcas said as she and Gabriel packed up their instruments.

"Yeah," Gabriel grinned at her. The buzz of performing hadn't quite worn off yet, and Gabriel felt that he could easily get used to the feeling of basking in a job well done.

"So," Dorcas said, snapping her case closed, "I guess we'll be seeing more of each other if this gig becomes permanent." She looked up at him, tilting her head to the side as though he was a particularly difficult puzzle. "Should we…talk or something? I don't…I mean I wouldn't want things to be awkward between us or anything when we're around each other."

Gabriel studied her. She was cute and apologetic, and it was tempting to agree with her. Then, for no reason at all, he was reminded of the day that Asa had insisted they learn some Eagles songs. "You know," he said, "I remember hearing some lyrics about how we can live our whole lives in chains and never know we have the key. I think that's kinda how we are. For a while there, I thought I needed you. You were exciting and different from my life, and it felt like when I was with you, I could be different and exciting too. Then you just…disappeared and I realized that I could still have that feeling on my own. I mean, I'm in a band, I hang out at poetry readings, I have a tattoo, and my best friend is a blue haired, tattooed poet-ish dude. Maybe things weren't meant to work out between you and me, but I guess I have to admit that I wouldn't have done any of those things if I hadn't met you." He took a breath. That had probably been one of the longest speeches he had ever given, and to his surprise, he didn't feel at all bad afterward. He glanced down at Dorcas to find she was staring inscrutably at him.

Finally, she stood and shouldered her case. "Well," she said, "You're welcome…I guess. I'm glad you have this great new life. I'm just sorry I screwed everything up at the beginning."

She jumped off the stage and headed towards the exit, and for a moment Gabriel reflected that it would be easy just to let her leave. Then, he decided he was done playing safe.

-x-

"Sorry it took awhile; I've been drinking my coffee a little differently," Tancred explained, capping his coffee and simultaneously settling into one of the chairs in the shop.

"Yeah?" Lysander said, taking a sip of his own latte and studying the blond across from him.

Tancred grinned at him. "I'm trying to cut down on sugar…apparently it's bad for you."

Lysander half-smiled back. "The things we learn when we're growing up."

Tancred took a sip of his drink, his expression becoming serious. "Listen mate, I'm really sorry about the whole Liv thing. I kinda lost it for awhile there, and I wasn't there when I should've been."

Lysander shrugged. "You know, it was probably a good thing. It wasn't like there was anything you could do. I'm sure that one day we'll look back on this and laugh."

"You don't mean that," Tancred said.

Lysander grimaced. "No, I really don't."

"Well, I guess that, like coffee, a man's got to realize that there might be other drinks out there for him, even if he hasn't tried them all yet," Tancred said, grinning.

"I'm not sure if that was meant to be metaphorical or not, but it sounded good," Lysander said with a shrug.

"You know I can't even spell metaphorical," Tancred laughed. For a minute the two men were silent.

"So, what now?" Tancred asked.

"You know, I think I'm tired of being a lawyer. I'd like to try something new…maybe art school? I've always been kinda into painting, and Naren said she'd give me lessons," Lysander said. "What about you?"

Tancred rested his elbows on the table and studied his coffee cup. "Dunno really. I mean, the whole Emma thing was clearly a disaster, but I think that I would like to try it again with someone else. Dating, that is. Being single is fun I guess, but it gets tiring."

"What do you know? Tancred Torsson, adult," Lysander laughed. "I guess some things aren't meant to stay the same."

Tancred gestured between the two of them. "But some things are. For what it's worth, I'm glad we're friends."

"Well," Lysander grinned. "Someone's got to talk you out of being so stupid."

"Speaking of stupid," Tancred said, setting his coffee down on the table and raising his eyebrows at Lysander, "It looks like they've hired a new barista, and I need her number."

-x-

"Have you seen Olivia lately?" Emma asked, dipping her roller into the paint tray that was balanced precariously on the second step of the ladder. Naren had decided to repaint her room and had enlisted Emma's help. So far, they had painted swatches of "Buttercup," "New Spruce," "Celadon," and something called "Teaberry" but Naren still couldn't make up her mind.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't heard from her since we were all at Lysander's," Naren said, eyeing the swatches critically. For her part, Naren was finding near delirious happiness was exactly what she'd imagined it to be. She almost couldn't believe that she and Charlie were in a real, functional relationship. She found herself freaking out at near constant intervals, convinced she was somehow hallucinating the whole thing.

"I like the green one," Charlie called from the doorway, as though Naren had summoned him with her thoughts.

"It's called 'Celadon'," Naren said, feeling a ridiculous grin start to spread over her face as he moved into the room.

"Mmm, that's what I meant," Charlie said, wrapping his arms around her.

"Hey…I'm still here," Emma said, waving her roller at them.

-x-

Emma grabbed her drink and carried it carefully over to the coffee bar. After hanging out with Charlie and Naren all day, she couldn't help feeling a little bitter. Not that she didn't want them to be happy…she just wished they weren't so _obvious _about it. She ripped open a sugar packet and was about to pour it in when a hand reached out and grabbed her drink.

"Sorry," Zelda said, "But I think you were about to drink my mocha."

Emma sighed. Zelda was probably the last person she wanted to see. "Sure, whatever, take it."

Zelda gave her a strange look. "What's with you?"

Just like that, Emma snapped. "You win, okay," she said angrily, "He obviously likes you. I'm happy for you, really."

Zelda looked at her, comprehension slowly dawning. "I'm not in love with Torsson," she said.

Emma looked up. "What?"

Zelda shrugged, looking down at one manicured nail. "We only went out once. It was actually sort of fun…in that, let's never, EVER, do this again kind of way. But I have feelings for someone else. So, yeah, not in love with him. But, no offense, but I don't think you're in love with him either."

"What?" Emma said again, feeling a little lost and lot confused.

"You're not in love with Tancred, you idiot," Zelda said, "You're in love with the idea of Tancred, what the two of you used to have, which, if I may say so, wasn't much. You have this perfectly functional relationship with Asa, which, hello, everyone else knows is like the greatest thing to ever happen to either of you, and I don't really get why you'd want to run off after Torsson, who is kind of a loser. I mean, how many times has he taken you home when you were drunk?"

"How do you even know that?" Emma asked.

"No offense, but it's kind of common knowledge," Zelda said.

Emma considered this. Really, over the last seven years, she and Tancred had hardly spoken. They'd seen each other at Pub Nights, but that was about it. With Asa, they talked about nearly everything, he'd helped her with Aunt Julia and wrote her that song and took her home when she was drunk and made her soup when she was sick and kissed her like he meant it-

"Are you okay? You look awful," Zelda interrupted her thoughts. Emma looked up at the older girl, who was peering at her with something like concern, or at least, as close to concern as Zelda could get.

"I'm okay," Emma managed. "I think I'm just having an epiphany."

-x-

"You know, it's pretty presumptuous of you to just decide how I feel," Billy said, bursting into the greenhouse.

It had taken roughly ten minutes after Idith left for Billy to realize that he had to follow her, and most of the night to prepare a speech that he was sure would convince her of his feelings. Given the way her eyes widened and the way she clutched her pruning shears, Billy figured he might not have chosen the best opening.

"Billy? What are you doing here?" Idith said, narrowing her eyes. Ordinarily, this would have made Billy pause, but he pushed the rational side of his mind away and barrelled on.

"You know, I thought you'd changed after graduation, but turns out you're still just as judgemental as you were then. You can't just decide who I like and run away. Don't I get any say? Who made you the feelings police?" He took a breath and met her eyes. "You can't just keep pretending this doesn't affect you at all."

For a minute, Idith stood speechless, but suddenly she seemed to recover herself. "You liked my sister!" she said, her cheeks flushing, and her eyes sparking dangerously. "You send her flowers and you pine after her, and then when she doesn't like you, you just decide to go after me because I'm the next best thing, because I look like her? Well congratulations, go off and have a great life together!"

"You are so thick!" Billy shouted. He knew his face was probably beet red, and that he'd completely messed up everything he was planning to say, but he didn't really care. "If you'd only let me _talk _to you and let me explain, you'd know I'm crazy about _you_ and I don't care about your sister!"

"Wha-," Idith faltered.

"For the record, I never actually sent the flowers to your sister. I think my delivery service knew they were always for you," he added. He was going to say something else, but she'd suddenly dropped the pruning shears and launched herself at him.

Billy suddenly didn't mind being allergic to flowers.

-x-

Fidelio glanced out the window of the hotel room, taking in the view of the London skyline.

He looked over at the clock. It was dress rehearsal, and he was late.

Grabbing his violin, he hurried out to the street, turning up the collar of his coat against the cold. Adjusting his grip on the violin, he didn't notice the girl in front of him until they collided.

"I'm starting to think that you have a vendetta against my purse," Olivia said cheerfully, bending to pick up her lipstick.

"Um," Fidelio said.

Olivia hitched her bag back up on her shoulder. "I know… I'm surprised I'm here too."

"Why-" Fidelio started.

"It's not like I'm choosing you over him or anything," Olivia interrupted. "I'm still mad that you got me abducted. I just happened to be here for my new job, that's all."

"New job?" Fidelio asked, wishing he could make his brain formulate more than half-sentences.

Olivia grinned. "Can't say anything about it…hush hush and all. I guess we'll be spending a little time together for awhile…living in the same city."

Fidelio tightened his grip on the violin. "So you forgive me?"

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "I didn't exactly say that. We never really got a chance to talk, you and me. I'm just saying, let's try to be friends; no lies and no kidnapping. We'll see after that."

Fidelio smiled, finally feeling like everything was going to be okay. "Yeah, I guess we can try."

-x-

Emma was pushing her cart though the produce section when she caught sight of a familiar figure near the vegetables. She hadn't really spoken to Asa since the whole Tancred fiasco, and she nearly turned around and left, but he gave her a smile and a half wave, so she reluctantly made her way over.

"Hi," she said, smiling tentatively.

"Hey Emma," he smiled back, and for a moment, they were silent, and Emma remembered how only a few months ago they'd never run out of things to say to each other. _Of course_, Emma reflected, _that was before I realized he was my soul mate_. To diffuse the awkwardness of the situation, she glanced into his cart.

"Eggplant?" She said, raising an eyebrow.

Asa smiled. "I've been trying to cut back on my meat intake. After…everything…I pretty much just ate meat for a solid month, and let me tell you, a month of meat is a lot of meat." Emma laughed, and then Asa laughed too, and then she was distracted by the way his eyes sparkled, and suddenly it didn't seem so funny anymore. Then they were silent again. Emma wondered when she'd begun using _sparkly _to describe Asa's eyes.

"So how are you doing with the Tancred situation?" Asa asked, meeting her eyes again.

Emma shrugged. "I guess I finally realized that he wasn't the guy I thought he was. Better late than never though, right?"

"Right," Asa said, smiling in a way that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"You never called me," Emma blurted, wishing she could take the words back as soon as they were out of her mouth. Asa froze and then suddenly seemed very absorbed in studying his eggplant.

"I thought you wouldn't want to hear from me, after what happened," he said carefully avoiding her eyes.

"Well, you just _left_, and I thought that I ruined our friendship, and then I didn't hear from you and what if you ran away and-"

"Killed myself?" he interrupted his lips quirking into a small smile.

"Never came back," she said. His smile abruptly disappeared.

"I was just scared, you know," Emma said, fidgeting with her skirt, wishing he'd just _look_ at her already.

"I know," he said. "How do you feel now?"

"Still scared, but I think I can… deal with it now," Emma said, wishing she had more words for what could possibly be one of the most important conversations of her whole life.

Asa grinned, finally meeting her eyes, and she had to remind herself to breathe, because he hadn't looked at her like that since the night of her date with Tancred.

"I have my own apartment," he offered, when the silence between them threatened to become never-ending.

"Oh," she replied, flustered, "that's good, I, mean-"

"I also have a steady job," he continued, moving closer, as though she hadn't spoken, and she was suddenly reminded of a leopard stalking its prey, "_and_ I've been playing with Gabriel's band for the last couple months."

"What?" she said, surprised, taking several involuntary steps backwards.

He shrugged, stepping forward again. "I did a lot of thinking after you kicked me out, you know. I realized that I've pretty much been relying on other people my whole life, and I never got a chance to figure stuff out for myself. It totally sucked at first cause I basically had no money, and no idea what to do, but then it got better… and I like it. The whole in charge-of-my-own-destiny thing. I like the options." He took another step forward. Emma's back hit the produce display, and a couple of peppers tumbled onto the floor. He leaned forward, bracing his hands on either side of her. She looked up at him, eyes wide.

"Asa, we're in a _grocery_ store!"

He grinned, and then said, "What did I tell you? _Options_." He reached out one hand and wound a piece of her hair around his finger. "So, I figured out what I wanted. Did you?"

Emma considered this. "I think I've always known what I wanted, I was just too busy being needed to say anything." She looked up at Asa questioningly. "Maybe we can just start from the beginning or something."

He laughed. "From the very beginning?" He thought for a minute, "Ok. My name is Asa Pike, and I want you," he said, before leaning down to brush his lips lightly across hers. Then he pulled back slightly and murmured, "Did I mention that I've been taking cooking lessons?" Emma smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck, the fact that they were in a grocery store fading to the back of her mind. As he leaned in to kiss her, she thought that all things considered, being needed was highly overrated.

-x-

"Well this is weird," Gabriel whispered to Billy. Billy nodded and helped himself to Charlie's drink. It was the last Thursday of the month, but for the first time, nearly everyone had shown up at Pub Night. _Granted, the dynamic is certainly different_, Gabriel thought.

Charlie and Naren were sitting together on one end of the table, their heads bent together. Asa and Emma were sitting across the table from each other, and from the amount of significant looks that were passing between them, Gabriel was pretty sure it was only a matter of time before their relationship was back to whatever passed for normal for them.

"Hey guys," Tancred said nonchalantly, dropping into the chair next to Lysander's. "I brought someone." He gestured to Beth, who had taken the seat next to him. "Hi," she said, still managing to sound bored. Asa glanced at Emma, but she seemed unaffected by the sight. Instead, she asked Beth about local coffee prices and the two were soon chatting like old friends.

Gabriel noticed that Tancred didn't even bother glancing over at Manfred's usual table, although it was debateable if Manfred noticed Tancred's arrival, since he was busy making out with Zelda.

"So, where's your lady?" Dagbert asked, sliding in next to him.

Gabriel shrugged, "She said she had to hit up some poetry thing before she came over."

Dagbert raised his eyebrows. "You don't want to get in on that?"

"Nah," Gabriel said, "I think I've figured out that poetry isn't really my thing."

Dagbert laughed. "Took you long enough!"

Gabriel grinned. "Weren't you the one who told me to try new things?"

"Sure," Dagbert said, "but only so you can figure out what you really love to do."

"Well, for what it's worth, I guess I owe you," Gabriel said.

Dagbert grinned. "What are friends for?"

Gabriel glanced around the room, thinking that now was the time for something profound. "Sod it," he said, "Let's get another drink."


End file.
